Drivers in the Intermountain West’s highways always have to be on the lookout for wildlife, but a new study shows they should be especially wary of encountering moose on the road.

A study by the Journal of the American College of Surgeons recently analyzed 500 crashes in Northern New England and found that vehicle crashes involving moose are 13 times more likely to result in death than an accident with a deer.

Researchers for the study analyzed motor vehicle crash data from state fish and wildlife agencies in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, the Maine Department of Transportation and three trauma centers in Maine and New Hampshire.

Most of the crashes occurred in Maine, according to the study, with researchers analyzing 50,281 collisions with deer and 7,062 with moose from 2003 to 2017.

“Obviously, this issue is localized to the northern areas of the United States, but it is also a significant issue in Canada and Scandinavia,” lead author David E. Clark of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Maine Medical Center said in a news release. “Medical professionals in these geographic regions should be aware of the typical injury pattern and should support preventive efforts.”

The report describes moose as “massive animals, weighing from 800 to 1,300 pounds and standing as tall as 6 feet, 6 inches at the shoulder.”

It said, “(when the front of a vehicle strikes a moose, it tends to impact its long legs, sending the bulk of the animal to collide into the windshield and roof.”

The researchers found that motor vehicle collisions involving moose are most frequent after sunset and, to a lesser extent, near sunrise, the report said.

“However, the risk of fatal collision is almost three times greater at midday than at other times during the day, perhaps because of speed and driver factors,” it said.

Seasonally, collisions are more frequent in the late spring and summer, it said.

Eastern Idaho is not immune to accidents involving moose.

From 2010 to 2014 , there were 94 reported crashes with wildlife on U.S. Highway 20, which were 16 percent of the total 572 reported crashes. Seventeen of those involved moose, according to a 2016 Idaho Transportation Department report looking at U.S. 20 and wildlife.

Moose are a high concern in the Falls River-Chester segment of U.S. 20, according to the report, as well as U.S. 87 toward Henry’s Lake and Yellowstone National Park.

Other areas common for moose include Big Bend Ridge, Osborne Bridge to Macks Inn and almost the entire Caribou-Targhee National Forest Region, according to the report.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries said collisions with moose aren’t common, but drivers should be cautious due to the high amount of moose in the region.

He said most car collisions with moose that he knows of have happened on U.S. 20. On Friday, he recalled two incidents: a family that hit a moose near Island Park and when a motorcyclist died after his motorcycle ran into a moose about 20 years ago.

“The car takes the legs out of the moose and then it comes through the windshield,” Humphries said. “It was a family from India and when the EMTs got there, there was blood and gore everywhere. Miraculously, no one from the family was seriously injured, as all the blood was from the moose.”

Living in Egin, a community right outside Fremont County, Humphries says he and his wife have had moose come into their yard, though he hasn’t come across one while driving recently.

He says to be safe, drivers should try and watch for signs of animals on the side of the road. Do not swerve or try to evade animals while driving, he said.

Gray wolves in the U.S. would be stripped of federal protection and subject to hunting and trapping in more states under a proposal released Thursday that declares the predators recovered following a decades-long restoration effort.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to revoke the wolves’ endangered and threatened species status and put them under authority of state wildlife agencies across the Lower 48 states. The Associated Press reported last week that the proposal was in the works.

Wildlife advocates and some members of Congress said the move is premature because wolves occupy only a fraction of a historical range that once stretched across most of North America.

But Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said it was “indisputable” that wolves had recovered enough to meet recovery goals. He said the agency could now devote more work to species in greater need.

Livestock interests, hunters and officials in some states have wanted the government to make it easier to kill wolves. The predators periodically prey on livestock such as cows and sheep and have been blamed for declining numbers of elk, moose and other big game in some areas.

“We need to take control of these wolves,” said Tony Demboski with the Upper Peninsula Sportsmen’s Alliance in Michigan, where there are an estimated 660 of the animals. “They’re cleaning up our deer herd, we’ve got people scared to go for a walk in the evenings. We’ve just got too many wolves.”

Those who want more wolves in more places say such fears are overblown. Wolves very rarely attack people, and far more livestock are killed by other causes, including coyotes and disease.

“It doesn’t have to be either or — we have livestock or we have wolves,” said Kate Dylewsky with the Animal Welfare Institute. “Co-existence with wolves is very possible.”

Trapping, poisoning and hunting campaigns early last century exterminated wolves across most of the Lower 48 states by the 1930s. More than 6,000 of the animals now live in portions of nine states, officials say.

A final decision on lifting protections will follow a public comment period that begins Friday and runs through May 14.

Government officials said their goal was to protect wolves from extinction, not return them to everywhere they were once found.

The Endangered Species Act is not “a means to keep species from being hunted in perpetuity once they’ve met the threshold of recovery,” said Gavin Shire, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Environmentalists and animal advocacy groups have pledged to challenge in court any action to ease or eliminate protections.

Putting gray wolves under state control would allow Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin to resume hunting and trapping blocked by a 2014 court ruling that returned them to the endangered list.

In other areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, wildlife officials say they have no immediate plans for hunting but could consider it in the future.

Aside from Alaska only three states — Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — currently allow the public to hunt wolves.

More than 600 were killed in the Northern Rockies states during the most recent hunting and trapping seasons.

Court rulings delayed hunting in the Northern Rockies for years after wolves reached the government’s benchmark for recovery in the early 2000s. Members of the region’s Congressional delegation ultimately inserted a provision into a budget bill that forced the animals off the endangered list.

Protections will be retained under Thursday’s proposal for two small populations of related species — the Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico and Arizona and the red wolf in North Carolina.

Filmed by Bike, Portland, Oregon’s famed bicycle-themed film festival is making a stop at the Waterfront at Snake River Landing on Thursday. The traveling festival features more than 15 films from all over the world. The Idaho Falls showing will be divided into two parts: “Bike Love” and “Adventure Shorts.”

Presented by Idaho Falls Community Pathways and the Idaho Walk Bike Alliance, the festival raises funds for walk and bike advocacy across the state and to promote and advocate for local pathway construction and other walking/cycling improvements including Safe Routes to School projects and programs. The title sponsor for Filmed by Bike in Idaho Falls is Bill’s Bike and Run at 930 Pier View Drive in Idaho Falls.

Tickets are available online at idahowalkbike.brownpapertickets.com for $15 or for $17 at the door. This is an all-ages show. Beer, wine and food will be available, and there will be a raffle. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the films start at 7 p.m.

Grizzly bears are waking up in Yellowstone National Park. 

Visitors spotted a large grizzly last Friday between Canyon Village and Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone officials announced in a news release. Tracks were also seen between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction. 

It’s that time of year, as male grizzlies usually come out of hibernation in mid-to-late March. Females with cubs leave the dens in April and early May. 

Bears leaving hibernation look for food and often feed on elk and bison that died over the winter, the release said. The release added that bears sometimes react aggressively while consuming a carcass.

Yellowstone’s release said all of the park is bear country, and that visitors should take precautions like hiking or skiing in groups, making noise and carrying bear spray. Restrictions began in some bear management areas on Sunday, including the Firehole area, Mary Mountain Trail, Richard’s Pond and Gneiss Creek, among others.

POCATELLO — Watershed Guardians’ eighth annual BeaverCount training will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Mink Creek Nordic Center off the Scout Mountain Road. The BeaverCount will be held Feb. 2, meeting at the same location.

BeaverCount is a free, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing event where participants trek into our watershed to assess the current state of the beaver populations.

On Jan. 26, volunteers will meet at the Mink Creek Nordic Center and learn about wilderness first response, physical assessment and warm-ups, navigation and beaver habitat. From the Nordic Center, you will snowshoe on approximately one mile of easy-to-moderate trail and see the benefits of having beaver in our watersheds. Some useful snowshoe techniques you’ll learn include side-hilling, toe kick and water crossing. When you return, you can share your stories with us and enjoy hot soup and snacks to warm up and select their zones for the upcoming count. You’ll need sturdy boots, warm-layered clothing, day pack, water bottles, gloves, sunglasses and a hat. Teams are encouraged to register.

Then, the following weekend, those trained to spot beaver activity, winter preparedness, wildlife conservation and any number of other skills related to snowshoeing, will hike or ski into streams that are part of our watershed. This year’s locations will include Mink and Toponce basins.

Opportunities exists for those of all ages. If you were trained previously but have not trained in the last five years, you’re encouraged to re-attend the training.

Watershed Guardians is a nonprofit organization whose mission is, “To maintain, restore and protect the Portneuf Watershed, one beaver at a time.”

To register, visit www.watershedguardians.org/beavercount-viii or www.facebook.com/watershed guardians or call Mike at 208-232-0825.