Wolverine sightings curb Silver Valley snowcat skiing operation

Evidence of wolverine activity on the Rochat Divide and St. Joe Mountains south of Cataldo, Idaho, has jeopardized the permit issued to Peak Adventures, a Silver Valley snowcat skiing company that’s operated on public land for 17 years. U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials recently notified Peak Adventures’ new owners that the odds were against their appeal and that a final decision would be made by Tuesday. Before they bought the operation in 2009, Ryan and Carey Stanley say they were assured by the BLM district manger in Coeur d’Alene that no issues, including the documented occurrence of rare wolverines, threatened the viability of the permit. The original permit allowed Peak Adventures to guide around 500 skiers a year on about 13,000 acres in this sub-range of the Bitterroot Mountains with elevations up to 6,300 feet. In return, the company paid BLM 3 percent of the total sales...more