The Crunchies

We've just completed our first week of training on the Sierra Nevada Carnivore Monitoring Project. Based in Shaver Lake, CA, our crew of thirteen is learning the ropes for surveys across the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests. I'm having a blast! First of all, the entire crew is great. We've had a lot of fun kicking the soccer ball around during breaks (I'm learning) and we even had an epic dance party last night, topped off with a snowball fight. Yes. You read that correctly. I said snow! We got two inches as part of a short cold front passing through. One crew member had never seen snow fall, so we did our best to lug as many snowballs as possible at him.

Since this project has been ongoing for ten years, and because other fisher projects exist within close proximity, the locals often refer to these field crews as "The Crunchies." The nickname apparently originated from a shared love of granola and conservation, so our reputation as respectable field crews also includes our love of Clif Bars, dehydrating our own fruit, playing guitar, owning several nalgenes, and avid climbing and hiking. I'm currently learning to play the guitar and mandolin, so combined with a love for carnivores, I am officially a crunchy! A few of us have already heard "oh, you're one of the crunchies," and it's only been a week!

This long-term project is looking at the abundance of fishers and martens, two predators in the mustelid (weasel) family and monitoring population decline and genetics. Fishers are of particular conservation concern, as the species requires old growth forests and cannot thrive in younger stands or areas that are logged. As a result, controversy surrounds the California populations of fishers, as they are warranted for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, but doing so raises several issues for forest management, among others. So, our job is to look at where fishers live, how abundant they are, and to examine gene flow to monitor connectivity and population soundness. The status of martens is not as dire, but we will examine this cousin as well as note other carnivores in this region.

This week has been spent learning project protocol, learning how to build track plates, and identifying the tracks of several mammals, from fishers to bears to small rodents (squirrel species tracks are hard!). Track plates are awesome tools to noninvasively determine what species live in certain areas as well as collect hair samples for DNA analysis. A box covers a metal plate where one half of the plate is sooted and the other is lined with a slightly sticky contact paper, and when an animal enters the box on the open side (usually drawn in with a tasty piece of chicken), their footprints are left on the paper from the soot. We have barbed wire over the entrance of the track plate box, so if we are lucky we also get a hair sample. I'm really looking forward to seeing what critters visit our track plates, except for the bears because they usually "whomp" or dissemble the boxes in their curiosity or hunger. We also set one of our sampling unit stations as practice:

Mark placing flagging at one of our sites. Like the gear? Safety is cool at the Forest Service!

Next week involves driving training for the Forest Service,  and hopefully more exploring during our evenings. A group of us climbed this enormous rock overlooking the river feeding out of Shaver Lake, where we shared a few beers while watching the sunset and a pair of nesting ospreys. With the snow mostly melted, we might camp on that rock tomorrow night!

California and a Bobcat

Happy Mother's Day! I don't know about you, but my mom has been there for every tear, giggle, and adventure in my life, particularly in the last few years when I realized I wanted to become a wildlife biologist (unfortunately for her, this still includes me chasing her with the lizards and frogs I catch, just like when I was five years old). Thanks, mom!

Greetings from California! This girl is perching on the west coast (for the first time, I might add)! I am super stoked to start the summer field season on the Sierra Nevada Carnivore Monitoring Project. I'm really looking forward to brushing up on old skills and learning new ones, such as working with track plates and learning more about fishers and martens. I'm currently in a little town called Barstow, which is about 300 miles from our destination in Shaver Lake. Mark and I broke up the drive from TX to CA with a stop in the Texas Panhandle. We have had one hell of a trip. It's our third cross-country trip together and my seventh overall, and by far the best. We had the treat of watching a wild bobcat, with time to ruminate over the experience.

On our way through the beautiful Texas Panhandle, we spotted the bobcat in the middle of a horse pasture. With private pasture land for miles, I was surprised to see a bobcat in such open terrain (more due to my experience of bobcats preferring montane forests rather than the abnormality of the behavior, though with such little cover, I was still impressed). At first we thought it was a grey fox, and then a coyote. As we pulled a u-turn, I was bursting with excitement when Mark realized it was a bobcat (actually, I believe I let out a few expletives to illustrate said excitement). The cat had something in it's mouth, and when we came to a stop about one hundred feet away we saw it was a prairie dog. We've all seen episodes of National Geographic and witnessed the raw audacity of predation second-hand, and while we didn't witness the chase, I don't think I have words for the short moment that this bobcat calmly forced the last breath from his prey. Once he caught his breath and realized we weren't threatening or particularly interesting, he began to enjoy his hard-earned meal. For almost thirty minutes we watched what we estimated to be an older male (based on size and location) eat, alternating between the sound of crunching bones and an occasional cool glance in our direction. We started the truck and pulled forward once when a curious and hungry horse galloped in our direction- we didn't want our cat to lose his meal. Once the horse angrily galloped off in the opposite direction, we returned to our post, where I quietly belly-crawled a few yards closer for some more photos. Here are my favorites:

When the cat decided it was time to go,  we were shocked to discover that his front left leg was broken at the 'elbow.' Likely the result of a car strike, missed gun shot, or possibly a trap (farmers don't like bobcats, but they control prairie dog numbers, which destroy pastures), his chances of survival are slim. He looked on the thin side, yet it is one hell of a predator that can successfully hunt a prairie dog in an open pasture. While a car strike is often uncontrollable, we discussed the human threat to carnivores. Sadly, the issue is all too common with predators: farmers, hunters, and anti-carnivore enthusiasts try to control carnivore populations, legally as well as illegally, and often harm incidental captures or escaped targets with their methods. While hunting and trapping is part of the North American model of conservation, our country is currently in the middle of an ant-carnivore craze, and with the bobcat having no hunting or trapping restrictions in Texas, along with (for some) a lack of understanding of the benefit of carnivores (in this case, helping to prevent the destruction of pasture), this cat is going to have a hard time. The experience was bittersweet, and all we can do as biologists and conservationists is work with the community to ensure prosperity for four legged and two legged creatures alike. 

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