Wasatch Wildlife Watch is a multi-organizational collaboration and community science trail camera project. This project is dedicated to scientifically investigating how wildlife respond to human influence. Our team intends to ensure the protection of species such as mountain lion, black bear, moose, elk, and beaver by promoting sustainable development proposals across northeastern Utah, an area under the increasing threat of population growth and human recreational traffic. These proposals will arise from robust, standardized, and data-driven plans and initiatives enacted by wildlife and wildland agency partners, policy makers, and urban planners. Wasatch Wildlife Watch is also dedicated to community engagement through creating an effective, educational, and enjoyable community science experience that provides community members, regardless of socioeconomic background, the opportunity to contribute to wildlife conservation initiatives and participate in and learn from the scientific process. By using trail cameras and an online data interface Wasatch Wildlife Watch is able to study species at the top of the wood web, mammals, which are typically difficult to study with other methods. By leveraging trail cameras and community science, Wasatch Wildlife Watch looks to protect the natural integrity of the Wasatch Mountain Range ecosystem.
Students will be able to interact with all aspects of this project, from fieldwork to data entry and analysis (using real data from a local conservation biology program). Please contact Austin Green at austin.m.green@utah.edu for more information.
