Do fishers live in Glacier Park? Probably not, but there are a lot of good reasons to look . . .
After wading across the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in a pair of brand-new defective waders and skiing sodden-footed through a miles-long thicket of tangled deadfall, Glacier National Park wildlife biologist John Waller admits he may be chasing a phantom.
His research often requires skiing across 15 miles of steep, rugged terrain in a single day and working from dawn until dusk – a trying effort for what may prove to be the wildlife biologist’s equivalent of a snipe hunt. But even if the critter he’s pursuing eludes him, and even though the ultra-lightweight Hodgman waders he just bought are worthless, the scientific data Waller’s study will produce and the questions it may help answer are invaluable.