"I was flabbergasted," Zielinski said. "I just could not believe what I was seeing."
Reached by e-mail late Tuesday afternoon at the Sagehen facility, Moriarty said that when she first glimpsed the digital image, she tried not to jump to conclusions.
"I stared at the photo for a long time, running through every animal I thought it could be. And I couldn't think of anything but this," she wrote. "So I called Bill immediately and asked him what he thought. Things just got crazy from there."
Tom Kucera, a wildlife biologist who is among those who searched in vain for wolverines, called the discovery "the best news I've heard in a long time. Everybody is speechless. People are stunned."
To many scientists, one surprise is that the animal was found north of Truckee, a region that while rugged, is not wilderness. The area has been logged previously and is used by snowmobilers and cross-country skiers.
Historically, most wolverines had been spotted in the high, wild southern Sierra – part of a population that may no longer exist.
Zielinski and others wonder if the Sagehen wolverine is a remnant of that southern population that wandered north and remained undetected until now. To find out, they hope to capture a bit of its fur, compare the DNA with museum samples and solve that part of the mystery.
However Butler, the Nevada County wildlife commissioner, said he was not at all surprised that the animal turned up at Sagehen. A decade and a half ago, he claimed, another was sighted in the area.
"The old agriculture commissioner for Nevada County called me on the phone," he said. "He was going up to the Euer Ranch, one basin south of Sagehen. And he was just ecstatic. He said he had seen a wolverine. He said, 'There's no question in my mind, Ray, it was a wolverine.' "
Although the existence of a wolverine and its need for a vast home range could complicate mountain development around Truckee, just what its impact might be is anyone's guess.
A tone of concern about those unknowns crept into the e-mail message Zielinski distributed widely Monday, announcing the discovery.
"Dear Agency Friends and Research Colleagues: It is with a mixture of joy, and some trepidation, that I share the attached photograph and solicit your help in managing the circumstances it may precipitate," he wrote.
Butler noted that "consultants have routinely failed to see the wolverine as a planning issue in the Sierra for many years because of the absence of hard data."
Just how Forest Service managers in California might respond remains uncertain. According to Tahoe National Forest public affairs officer Ann Westling, officials in the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters told her not to comment about the wolverine.
One thing is certain: The stakes are high – for man and beast.
"How do you manage for wolverines?" asked biologist Kucera. "They are the quintessential wild beast. They need huge home ranges. What does that mean for California? There is going to be a lot of head-scratching, a lot of discussion."
Call The Bee's Tom Knudson, (530) 582-5336.
