Conservation Northwest

2017 Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project Report_FINAL_WithAppendices

Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke

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58 camera does not approach or deal with the debris pile in any way. Genetic Sample Collection Upon arrival at a remote camera trap for servicing or de-install, field teams should walk in front of the camera to trigger it and capture an index photo which will note exact time of arrival and thus inform the exact survey period the trap was operational. Before disassembling the site, crews should review all the images stored on the memory card of the camera. For remote cameras without an image viewing function, the card can be viewed by inserting it into a standard digital camera. If the review of images reveals a potential grizzly bear has visited the site and its behavior included rubbing on the debris pile or nearby trees, it may be possible to collect hairs from the animal. Carefully inspect the areas the animal rubbed (as seen in the photographs). Scan the location from several different angles as hairs may pop out more clearly depending on lighting and background. Every effort should be made not to touch the hairs directly as this can contaminate them for DNA analysis. Ideally a sterilized tweezers would be used to extract the hair(s). Deposit the hairs in a coin envelop (included in field kits provided at trainings). Label the container clearly with the location, date, coordinates, and your name (observer). Fill out a specimen collection datasheet. Prevent contamination of genetic samples by using a clean pair of Nitrile gloves for each sample. At any given camera station, you will not know whether the hair or scat samples you find are from a single species or a single individual. Do not place samples in plastic bags or other plastic containers. Plastic traps moisture which will ruin the samples; thus, the genetics lab will not be able to extract DNA from the samples. Completely label all samples with the date, GPS coordinates, name of camera station, where the sample was found, and collector (refer to data sheet on the left for additional details). When you return from the field, check samples to make sure they are labeled properly and contact Conservation Northwest for instructions for delivering the material to our project partners for analysis. Photographs of potential tracks and signs During scouting, installation and removal of remote camera traps document any tracks and signs that appear to have been left by grizzly bears. Follow the guidelines laid out in the Remote Camera Trap Installation and Servicing Protocol for this. Appendix 2 of this document provides basic guidelines for track identification and others signs to look for in the field. Relocation of camera trap Each camera team will be assigned two locations to monitor over the course of the summer. After deconstructing the first traps, the team will travel to a second location and redeploy their camera traps in the second target location, following all the same guidelines for the initial installation of the season.

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