POCATELLO — Brennen Dye thought about playing football at Pocatello High School, but ultimately decided he was undersized.

Sydnie George was “devastated” when she was cut from Highland High School’s freshman volleyball team.

Today, they’re both seniors, thriving as athletes in a relatively new, but rapidly growing, youth team sport in Idaho: mountain biking.

They race along with students from five area middle schools and five area high schools as members of the Pocatello Pioneers. It’s a team in which nobody gets cut and every athlete can claim victories measured in personal growth.

Dye, a boys’ captain, has become one of just a dozen elite riders in Idaho who race in the varsity class. He routinely stands atop the podium during post-race medal ceremonies. And George, now a girls’ captain, has found her path to personal achievement on the trails, rather than the volleyball court.

“I can tell you, I was the slowest of the slow, the worst of the worst,” George recalled. “But I have come to love it, and it has taught me so much more than I know I could ever learn playing volleyball about hard work, dedication and about myself.”

The Pioneers compete in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.

The club team isn’t affiliated with any school district, though organizers recruit talent during local schools’ fall sports assemblies.

For trail users who encounter the Pioneers on practice days — at least before the team divides into smaller groups — yielding to the passing riders can be like waiting on a freight train.

The team has grown from just 13 students during its first season five years ago to 75 current athletes. The Pioneers are no longer allowed to compete as a single team, and must now register racers based on their schools.

Coaches have been especially pleased by recent growth in the number of girls donning the lime-green Pioneers’ jersey.

“When I joined the team, I raced against one girl,” recalled Kobae Dye, a Pocatello High School freshman who joined while in middle school. “Nowadays, I race against like 30 people.”

Victoria Horrocks, a Century High School sophomore in her first season with the Pioneers, appreciates that her teammates have made her feel included. She also loves race days and “just coming to the finish line and feeling so accomplished.”

Practice rides, usually hosted in the City Creek or Mink Creek areas, can range from 5 to 17 miles. Many of the high school girls look forward to the practices as much for the social outlet as for the physical training.

“It really is like therapy,” said Erica Gardner, a Highland junior. “You just come out and ride with your friends and talk to them and have fun.”

Bob Walker, a competitive road cyclist from Pocatello, proposed establishing the Pioneers after he discovered a youth mountain biking league in Utah while cycling there. Walker and Barrie Hunt, owner of Barrie’s Ski & Sports in Pocatello, put up the seed money to buy jerseys and cover the team’s gas. Dan VanWasshenova, the founding head coach, would drive a bus transporting the original 13 athletes to races in Utah, and Troy Gardner, who is still a Pioneers’ coach, would haul the kids’ mountain bikes in a trailer.

Idaho Falls fielded a team for the Utah league during that same season, in the fall of 2013. Several other Idaho cities have since started teams, enabling the Pioneers to compete in state.

“I think this team has added so much,” Gardner said. “All of these kids wouldn’t have anything to do in high school if it wasn’t for this.”

Teams in Wyoming and Montana have joined the Idaho league, though Montana plans to start its own league next season. Idaho currently has five racing sites — in Twin Falls, Sun Valley, McCall, Boise and Driggs.

Pioneers’ head coach Jordon Marshall said about 650 racers competed in the most recent Idaho competitions, hosted in Driggs and Sun Valley. The Pioneers plan to build a race course in Pocatello, on Bureau of Land Management ground above the Satterfield neighborhood on the east bench. Marshall said the course could be open for races within the next few years and would have a significant economic impact on the community, as races would draw hundreds of athletes and their friends and family members.

Marshall, an emergency room doctor with Portneuf Medical Center, said the Pioneers host an event each April in which students can borrow bikes and see how they like mountain biking, without an obligation to register for the team. Trek Bikes lends mountain bikes to Idaho league members who can’t afford their own equipment.

Local sponsors such as Phil Meador Subaru, Sand Trap Grill and Barrie’s Ski & Sports also support the team.

“You had a lot of kids who love being outdoors and riding bikes, and they needed their own niche, their own community,” Marshall said. “Not everybody loves ball sports and running cross country.”

Similar to a health check up, Yellowstone National Park recently took a look at its “Vital Signs.” And like a typical middle-aged American, some of the signs are OK and others are cause for concern.

The results of the study were included in a recently released report, “The State of Yellowstone Vital Signs and Select Park Resources 2017,” that summarizes a variety of key resources, ecosystem drivers, environmental quality and native and non-native animals within and around the park — a park inventory.

The report is a collaboration of several experts. The last such health check-up was done in 2013.

So doctor, give us the bad news first.

“There are concerns about diseases in the ecosystem like chronic wasting disease, the potential for white nose syndrome with bats and also aquatic invasive species and exotic plants moving in,” said Kristin Legg, who works for the park service as program manager of the Greater Yellowstone Network. “We’re getting a better idea of where we are with those and the potential for that to be a problem in the future.”

Legg said park staff can see where things are headed and make plans to prevent or reverse problems.

Legg used trumpeter swans and loons as an example. She said the birds are showing declines in “nesting success,” and park officials are closing areas where they know there are nesting loons and swans to help them “successfully get through their nesting period without human disturbance.”

“The park is taking action on a number of these different things,” she said.

Another area for concern is the mass of humanity — more than 4 million visitors each year — and its impact on the park.

“The park has social scientists on staff and they are doing a number of research and studies to look into what can they do in moving people around the park, what improvements can be made and should there be limits in the park,” Legg said. “They’re gathering information and exploring all options. Everything is on the table.”

Neal Herbert, park public relations officer, said studies include handing out iPads to visitors to track their movements in the park. Tablets are returned at the end of the visits and information is compiled.

“We’ve been doing this study one week a month from May through September,” Herbert said. “I’m sure it will take them a while to crunch their data.”

The park has seven different projects involving hired researchers, staff and volunteers to make observations and surveys concerning “visitor use management.”

“For example, a volunteer may sit in the parking lot at Mammoth Hot Springs for a period of time and record how many cars are usually in the lot, how many people come and go from that area,” Herbert said.

He said once the data is gathered and compiled from the projects, the park hopes to have an idea of specific challenges and possible solutions.

“It’s easy to make assumptions about what’s happening with visitation that don’t stand up with actual data collection,” he said.

Another negative on park health is climate change.

“There is a shift in snowpack and decreases in snowpack over time and the snowpack is shortening in season. It’s not around as long which affects stream flows and river flows,” Legg said. “We’re going to start seeing peaks in spring runoffs earlier because the snowpack is melting off earlier. We’re also going to see low flows earlier in the year. … We’re also seeing wetlands drying as well. And how having wetlands more frequently drying affects not only amphibians but other species that rely on wetlands.”

But the Vital Signs report is not all bad news. Some animals have rebounded from poor numbers or situations.

“I think the grizzly bear work is a really great example of how working together collaboratively across multiple agencies and partners is a success story of how the population of grizzly bears has grown to the point of where it’s being delisted,” Legg said.

Another positive sign mentioned in the report and in recent news headlines is the restoration efforts of native cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake and elsewhere.

“Consistent, annual monitoring programs indicate an increase in the number of juvenile cutthroat trout since 2012. Angler success for cutthroat trout has also increased, and grizzly and black bears have returned to feed on spawning cutthroat trout in some tributary streams,” according to the report.

The report lists an example of improved water quality in the park with a reclamation effort on Soda Butte Creek in the northeast corner of the park. Tailings from a old mine site outside the park turned the water “an intense orange color” but after a collaborative cleanup effort, trout have returned to the stream and the greater Lamar River watershed.

Past Vital Signs reports did not mention cultural resources — things such as Old Faithful Lodge, historic buildings at Mammoth Hot Springs and museum collections.

“One of the cool things is that the park is entering into its collections museum objects for park use and researchers,” Legg said.

She said the park catalogs documents, plants, animals and even furnishings for park staff, researchers and families who have historical ties to the park to review. Many will go on display at the park’s museum.

“Even those yellow tour buses, that’s part of the museum collection. There’s one in a garage somewhere,” Legg said. “It’s an example of the type of things parks collect.”

Legg said that overall the Vital Signs report is a useful tool for scientists, staff and researchers.

“There is value in continuing this type of work, then pulling it together into one document so that we’re able to look at the big picture.” she said.

To read the complete “Vital Signs” report, go to www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/vitalsigns.htm.

A Wolf Trapper Education class has been scheduled for Saturday at the Idaho Fish and Game regional office at 1345 Barton Road in Pocatello. The class runs from 9 a.m to 4:30 p.m. If you are interested in trapping wolves in the state of Idaho, you must …

The University of Idaho will share a $20 million award from the National Science Foundation with Idaho State University and Boise State University to support research aimed at uncovering and predicting how rainbow trout and sagebrush adjust to changing environments.

The award, received through the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) program, is shared with Idaho EPSCoR partners at BSU and ISU and may help inform natural resource policies and management decisions throughout the American West.

U of I and the EPSCoR partners are receiving the money with $4 million in matching funds from Idaho’s Higher Education Research Council. The award will support research, education and workforce development at Idaho’s public research universities and participating undergraduate institutions for the next five years.

The project will look into the genetic, environmental and social systems connected to rainbow trout and sagebrush populations, while helping researchers better understand a broad range of organisms in the Gem State.

“Rainbow trout and sagebrush were strategically chosen for this study because they are keystone organisms in the American West and beyond,” said Janet E. Nelson, interim Idaho EPSCoR project director and U of I’s vice president for Research and Economic Development.

U of I will leverage the expertise and facilities through its Aquaculture Research Institute, Center for Modeling Complex Interactions, Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies and Center for Resilient Communities.

This is the eighth such EPSCoR RII award Idaho has received.

“Idaho has been remarkably successful in winning large EPSCoR awards since 1989, and this new project is another great example of what Idaho’s universities can achieve by working together,” said Laird Noh, chairman of the Idaho EPSCoR Committee “It will continue to strengthen Idaho’s scientific research excellence in areas of national importance and which are critical to achieving the goals of Idaho’s science and technology strategic plan.”

To expand the state’s capability to conduct this large, complex study, BSU and ISU will hire a total of six new faculty with relevant expertise. The new faculty will join a team of more than 30 university scientists and educators across Idaho who will work on the research. In addition, the project builds on partnerships with research-oriented state and federal agencies, private and nonprofit collaborators.

The award will also provide workshops and training at Idaho’s three research universities as well as Lewis-Clark State College and Idaho’s community colleges aimed at increasing diversity among Idaho’s next generation of scientists and engineers.

The scientific leadership team includes Ron Hardy, director of U of I’s Aquaculture Research Institute; Colden Baxter, director of the Center for Ecological Research and Education at ISU; and Jennifer Sorensen Forbey, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at BSU.

“We are excited to coordinate Idaho’s research efforts at such a high level,” Nelson said. “Our team will truly be working at the frontiers of discovery to help advance the prosperity and well-being of our state and nation.”

More information on the project and Idaho EPSCoR is available at www.idahogem3.org.

Over the last several days, there has been new thermal activity in the Geyser Hill area of the Upper Geyser Basin. This includes new erupting vents splashing water on the boardwalks, surface fractures and a rare eruption of Ear Spring on Sept. 15.

Geyser Hill lies across the Firehole River from Old Faithful and features dozens of hot springs, geysers and fumaroles.

For the public’s safety, some boardwalks and trails in the Geyser Hill area have been temporarily closed. Closure signs are posted. Find additional information at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center during business hours.

The boardwalks around Old Faithful remain open.

There are no signs of impending volcanic activity in the park.

Read more about recent observations at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo.

As you get geared up for hunting season, you’re probably preoccupied with sighting in your bow or rifle, stocking up on food and planning menus, sharpening your knives and starting to pack. That’s all good and necessary but don’t forget about another main component: your truck.

There are tons of books and articles on how to pack a survival kit. Take a peek at Adventure Medical Kits’ website. And yet we just take off without giving a thought as to what lies in wait for our trucks.

So my point is everyone has a survival kit, but do you have a survival kit for your truck? If not, you should. Nowadays, nearly everyone has a four-wheel drive vehicle, which means you can get back deeper in the woods. If you break down, you’re really in trouble.

When you think about it, our trucks are our legs and feet. You lose them and you’re sunk, so I think it’d behoove you to set down and give it a thought. This is fresh on my mind right now. I’m up in the mountains helping a buddy build a cabin and recently my truck wouldn’t start. Luckily a neighbor pulled up about that time and helped me get started. I then parked it on a hill so I can jump start it when I head home in a few days.

Oh, one more recent problem. Just a few weeks ago, we were running over to Oregon fishing. I had a blowout. I normally carry two spares but I had my jon boat in back of the truck and only had one.

When I took it in to get fixed, guess what had caused the problem? A rock. Want to know how that I knew this? A 3 ½-inch rock had punctured the tire and was still inside. The worst I’ve ever had was years ago on a moose hunt north of Pocatello. I woke up three mornings in a row with flats. I had to go to town at lunch every day and either purchase a tire or have a flat fixed. Now I carry two spares. You can pick up a spare tire/rim semi-cheap at the junkyard.

If you’re like me, you’re probably not much of a mechanic, and even if you were, you couldn’t carry a shop full of tools. But there are a few tools and items we should carry to get out of the obvious disasters.

Here’s a closer look at the things you should carry in your vehicle:

• In snow and ice, tire chains give you get traction. As with a lot of situations in life, put them on before you get in trouble.
• You see a lot of trees fallen over in the woods, right? What if one falls behind you? You’ll be stuck. So carry an ax and chain saw. I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more than it does.
• No matter what the season, I always carry a shovel. In the winter, they’re good to dig snow out from under your truck if you high-center, and last spring I was out whistle pig hunting and bottomed out in a badger hole. I had a shovel, so I jacked up my truck, filled in the hole and off I went.
• And for sure, do not trust the rinky-dink jack that came with your truck. Throw in a Handyman jack. I’ve been stuck a million times and had to jack up my vehicle and lay rocks or sticks under the tires to get unstuck or un-high-centered. (Curse of all curses). Also carry extra bolts. They always fall off the handle.
• Carry two sets of keys. If you lose your keys, that’d be a bad deal. Leave the extra set in your truck. You can break a window if necessary. Plus, you need to leave a set with your buddy. We were bow hunting over in Nebraska and a blizzard blew in. My buddy made it back to the rig before me but was half froze because he couldn’t get in.
• When you replace your old fan belts and hoses, carry them for backup. I’ve heard you can use a pair of pantyhose as a fan belt but I don’t wear pantyhose.
• I’ve noticed that 90 percent of the time my truck starts sounding a little weird before it whacks. I’ve had this happen three to four times only days before I headed out on a hunt. Get it checked — it won’t get any easier to fix in the woods.
• A few other items to carry flashlights, jumper cables, chains and a tire pump that plugs into the the cigarette lighter.

Hopefully we’ve listed a few common problems that you can be prepared for.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming — Celebrate the spectacle of raptor migration on Saturday in Yellowstone National Park’s Hayden Valley. Two programs will provide opportunities to learn about raptors and the role they play in Yellowstone and beyond:

• 9 a.m.: Presentation on raptor ecology and identification in the lobby of the Lake Lodge.
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Join park rangers to observe raptors at a road pullout located in Hayden Valley 9 miles north of Fishing Bridge Junction and 6.6 miles south of Canyon Junction. Look for signs, spotting scopes and uniformed rangers at the program location.

People should bring their own binoculars, water, snacks and a lawn chair for comfortable viewing.

Both programs are free to attend. For more information, call Katy Duffy at 307-699-2696.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Grizzly bears aren’t docile animals, but an especially aggressive attack that killed a hunting guide and injured his client is puzzling wildlife officials.

A female bear that was with its cub killed Mark Uptain of Jackson Hole and injured Corey Chubon of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, after they went to cut up an elk that Chubon shot with an arrow a day earlier.

Unlike other grizzlies that frequently startle and sometimes attack elk hunters in the Yellowstone National Park region, these bears didn’t appear to be after the meat and weren’t taken by surprise, Wyoming Game and Fish Department regional supervisor Brad Hovinga said Monday.

The attack Friday in the Teton Wilderness east of Grand Teton National Park happened in an area where Wyoming officials are trying to persuade a judge to allow grizzlies to be legally hunted for the first time in decades.

Environmentalists argue that the Yellowstone region’s grizzlies, which lost federal protections last year, are not abundant enough to sustain hunting. A U.S. judge in Montana has postponed hunts that were set to begin this month in Wyoming and Idaho while he considers that argument.

Friday’s attack shows how a hunter can carry both a gun and bear spray and still become the hunted.

“This was something that we don’t see very often or we don’t hear about very often, where a bear just comes in and attacks an individual and not in relationship to a defensive behavior,” Hovinga said.

Five Game and Fish Department employees trapped the cub with meat from the slain elk Sunday, and the mother bear charged them. Two officers shot the sow dead, and officials euthanized the cub.

“That could be somewhat different because her yearling was there and caught in the snare. Still, that was somewhat aggressive,” Hovinga said.

Officials plan DNA testing to verify the same bears were responsible for the attack but are almost positive based on Chubon’s description. At the scene of the attack, they found a used can of bear spray, which wildlife officials often advocate as the best defense — in some cases, better than a gun — against a charging grizzly.

Chubon tried to throw a handgun to Uptain during the attack but it fell short, he told WESH 2 News in Orlando, Florida.

“Somehow the grizzly let me go and charged Mark again. And that’s when I made the decision to just run for my life,” Chubon told the TV station Sunday.

He credited Uptain’s actions to fend off the bear with saving his life.

Chubon called for help from his cellphone. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital with significant scrapes and bite wounds but no life-threatening injuries.

Conflicts between grizzly bears and humans in the Yellowstone region have become more common as the species has recovered from near-extermination in the early 20th century, although fatal attacks on humans are still rare.

In 2017, wildlife managers tallied 273 conflicts between humans and grizzly bears in the region spanning northwest Wyoming, southeast Montana and eastern Idaho. Almost two-thirds of those involved attacks on cattle.

Wildlife officials killed at least nine grizzlies last year due to livestock attacks. Hunters acting in self-defense killed 15 grizzlies.