by jhwildlife | May 25, 2016 | Blog, Uncategorized
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation has released dates for its public fence projects in 2016 after a winter and spring of project coordination and site reconnaissance. The Wildlife Friendlier Fencing program reduces dangerous and challenging barriers to wildlife movement. Public projects offer volunteers the opportunity to contribute to the removal or modification of fences that pose avoidable threats to wildlife while fragmenting vital habitat. JHWF and its “Fence Team” leaders also work on a number of private projects with landowners throughout the summer toward the same end.
Public fence projects typically occur on Saturdays and span from 9am – 2pm with a lunch break. On some projects, half-day “shifts” are possible. While listed dates are subject to change or cancellation due to weather and other conditions, JHWF encourages volunteers to save the dates in order to ensure that all can participate as their schedule allows.
JHWF will require an RSVP from each volunteer in advance to ensure that we have the ideal number of volunteers for each project. Interested volunteers receive an email invitation and RSVP request about two weeks prior to the project date with the description, details and other logistics outlined. Please email jhwffencepull@gmail.com if you are not currently receiving fence project updates and would like to, or if you have questions about volunteering.
Wildlife Friendlier Fencing Public Project Dates
June 11
June 25
July 16
August 6
August 20
September 24
October 8
October 22 (tentative)
by jhwildlife | May 12, 2016 | Blog
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of a new staff member. Effective May 9, Kate Gersh has joined the team as Associate Director. She brings to JHWF conservation programming and partnership experience honed with three prior nonprofit conservation organizations. Gersh contributed to the wildlife conservation legacy of Jackson Hole while at The Murie Center of Teton Science Schools for the past four years.
“I’m excited to join the JHWF team and its great core of partners and volunteers to support Jackson Hole’s vision of a wildlife-friendly community,” Gersh said.
While JHWF maintains an efficient grassroots structure that relies heavily on many extraordinary volunteers to accomplish its on-the-ground work, the added staff will enable greater strategic development and integration of its core projects, connecting its work thoughtfully to that of local and regional partners.
“Kate will be a tremendous addition to the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation team. Adding this new position will double the organization’s full-time staff and allow us to have even more positive impact to wildlife,” said JHWF Board President Aly Courtemanch.
Gersh moved to Jackson in 2011 from Washington, DC, where she had worked first for the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots youth environmental and humanitarian education program, and then for African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), managing private foundation and corporate relationships. At AWF, she was a key contributor on the program management team for AWF’s large-scale grant award under the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Sustainable Conservation Approaches in Priority Ecosystems program. While with AWF, Gersh was selected as an Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leader, where she developed and implemented an international conservation project related to bats with fellow colleagues via the program.
Gersh worked with JHWF’s current executive director, Jon Mobeck, from 2012-2014 at The Murie Center, while Mobeck served as that organization’s ED.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with Kate at JHWF after a great experience at The Murie Center that will likely inspire and inform our conservation work forever,” Mobeck said. “Since partnerships and relationships are critical to our effectiveness here, I’m so grateful that Kate’s spirit, sensibility and professionalism will help guide us forward.”
Kate can be reached at kate@jhwildlife.org or stop by to visit us at our office at 330 N. Glenwood St. in the Meridian Building.
by jhwildlife | May 11, 2016 | Blog, Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, Nature Mapping Jackson Hole
How can you see 458 birds and wildlife in three hours on a Sunday morning in one of the most beautiful locations in the nation without taking a single step? Four words–Snake River Float Trips! This little-known benefit of being a certified nature mapper is in full swing and you can take advantage of it through September.
Generously provided by AJ DeRosa’s Wooden Boat Tours, this adventurous form of citizen science is not all fun and games. Its purpose is to gain a better idea of what species of mammals, birds, and amphibians use the section of river between Wilson Bridge and South Park, which flows mostly through private land where wildlife professionals do not conduct a systematic census.
How do I Sign Up?
Sign up for one of the dates below with the volunteer director of the trips, Tim Griffith at timgrif396@gmail.com. At least one person in your party (max 6) must be a certified JH Nature Mapper and should be the main wildlife spotter and at least one person to be the recorder. The spotter should have at least a basic understanding of the birds and mammals one might see on the Snake River. It costs only $20 to cover the shuttle fees and you’re welcome to tip the guide, if desired.
May 8th Float Trip Report:
The May 8th Snake River Float Trip traveled 8 miles down the river from Rendevous Park to Wooden Boat Adventures River Camp with Kevin Coughlin, Josh Seibel, Carrie Ann Adams, and trip leader (and retired wildlife biologist) Tim Griffith. They mapped 42 species (listed below) with a highlight of spotting 12 bald eagles as there are six nests along this stretch of river and each nest has two adults associated with it.
- Canada Goose 123
- Mallard 49
- Green-winged Teal 5
- Barrow’s Goldeneye 3
- Common Merganser 31
- Double-crested Cormorant 6
- American White Pelican 5
- Great Blue Heron 7
- Turkey Vulture 1
- Osprey 2
- Cooper’s Hawk 1
- Bald Eagle 12
- Red-tailed Hawk 3
- Killdeer 10
- Spotted Sandpiper 28
- Mourning Dove 1
- Belted Kingfisher 4
- Downy Woodpecker 1
- Hairy Woodpecker 1
- Northern Flicker 4
- Black-billed Magpie 2
- Common Raven 12
- Tree Swallow 43
- Bank Swallow 9
- Barn Swallow 4
- Black-capped Chickadee 6
- Mountain Chickadee 1
- Brown Creeper 2
- House Wren 2
- American Dipper 2
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
- Mountain Bluebird 2
- American Robin 19
- European Starling 1
- Yellow Warbler 2
- Chipping Sparrow 2
- Dark-Eyed Junco 2
- Song Sparrow 22
- Green-tailed Towhee 1
- Red-winged Blackbird 2
- Western Meadowlark 1
- Brewer’s Blackbird 12
- Yellow-bellied Marmot 7
- Elk 1
2016 Snake River Float Trips:
MAY: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th
JUNE: 12th and 26th
JULY: 10th and 24th
AUGUST: 7th and 21st
SEPTEMBER: 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th
Photo credit: STEVE MORRISS
by jhwildlife | Mar 25, 2016 | Blog
Last night we celebrated Nature Mapping Jackson Hole with a unique event that combines a communal potluck dinner with a feature presentation on wildlife science, all within the elegant environment of the Center for the Arts. The fact that it combines family with a love of wildlife and a relentless quest for more wildlife knowledge reflects the enduring spirit that connects many generations here. The Nature Mapping community, as much as anything else, is a manifestation of what it means to live in this particular wild country.
The Nature Mapping Jackson Hole idea, which the local legend Bert Raynes introduced with the help of friends such as wildlife expert Steve Kilpatrick and others, invites us to share our wildlife observations with each other. We can well imagine that much of the conversation at these long tables pictured above revolved around experiences with wildlife. As we look back on the conversations that hatched the Nature Mapping idea, we can also imagine the desire to take our collective stories and pool them together, not only for the good of science, but also to reflect upon and record our shared experience in this wild valley. Thanks to Bert, Steve and the many other members of Bert’s “family” of wildlife nuts, we tell our story together, and wildlife benefits.
Local legend Bert Raynes with a handful of his many friends at the Nature Mapping Community Celebration. Photo: Mark Gocke.
The legacy of Jackson Hole has been shaped by many of the world’s foremost wildlife biologists and conservationists. There are so many names that come to mind that listing them all would fill pages, but from the Muries and Craigheads to Raynes and many past and present contributors, we recognize the connections between all in a Jackson Hole “family tree” that has valued and protected wildlife for well more than a century.
Last night, Jason Wilmot, a renowned wildlife biologist at the Bridger-Teton National Forest, shared the stories and science of his work with a rapt audience. Wilmot has studied wolverines for 16 years, and more recently, lynx. He has done some of his work via the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and Wyoming Game and Fish Department, reflecting another trait of Jackson Hole’s family tree – many branches are intertwined. There are few people in the world who know what Wilmot knows about wolverines. If our global knowledge of wolverines is minimal, Wilmot is among a select few to thank for the fact that we know much at all. His very evident passion for his work has also had the effect of engaging more people in the “quest for wolverines and lynx.”
Wilmot, like so many before him, demonstrates a commitment to his work that is as fierce as his subject’s. To learn about the wolverine’s tenacity, Wilmot and colleagues have searched tenaciously, gathering data as voraciously as Gulo gulo gathers food. As he describes the sideways gallop of the wolverine, you sense that he, like many great wildlife biologists, has tried to imagine himself as the subject in the field, adopting the drifting gait to boogie through the snow. Understanding what the wolverine and lynx do, and how they do it, might lead to learning something new in much the same way that Adolph Murie learned about wolves by living among them in Mt. McKinley (now Denali) National Park.
The excitement of wildlife observations connects us all in a place like Jackson Hole. Thanks to Bert Raynes, Jason Wilmot and so many others who have willingly shared their stories, we feel the joy of a wild place, and respond to the obligation we share to keep our wild family tree as sturdy and enduring as it has always been, protecting the wildlife that enliven us and the home we all share.
Two prolific wildlife biologists, Jason Wilmot and Susan Patla.
Photo: Mark Gocke.
by jhwildlife | Feb 29, 2016 | Blog
Photo by Nature Mapper Kathy McCurdy on Moose Day
Eighth Annual Moose Day Survey Yields Data Similar to 2015
The eighth annual Moose Day Jackson Hole survey was conducted on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. 73 volunteers from trained Nature Mapping Citizen Scientists, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Bridger-Teton National Forest personnel took part spending an estimated 223 hours of volunteer time. 99 individual moose were observed in 58 individual search areas.
“Moose Day is such a fun event, bringing people together around the joy of searching for wildlife,” said Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation Executive Director Jon Mobeck. “It also serves a scientific purpose. The observation data captured on or near participating private ranch lands and residential neighborhoods supplements population surveys conducted by Wyoming Game and Fish, giving us well-rounded information in order to protect moose in the valley.”
During last year’s survey 97 individual moose were observed by 71 volunteers in 61 individual search areas. Moose numbers via this survey remain flat over the past three years.
“Moose Day is truly a community-wide effort: with 73 volunteers searching for moose by ski, foot, car, and snowmobile on a Saturday morning. We have a good time looking, enjoy swapping moose stories, and above all know we are doing something for the moose we all care about. I thank the volunteers and the landowners who are all part of this Citizen Science inventory,” said Frances Clark, coordinator of Moose Day and volunteer coordinator of Nature Mapping Jackson Hole.
by jhwildlife | Feb 16, 2016 | Blog
Counted on Moose Day 2015 by Nature Mapper Gigi Halloran
The eighth annual Moose Day Jackson Hole survey will be conducted on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Volunteers from trained Nature Mapping Citizen Scientists, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Bridger-Teton National Forest personnel will take part.
Every year since 2009 on a Saturday morning in late February, Jackson Hole Nature Mappers partner with Wyoming Game and Fish to survey moose in Teton County. Teams of two or more are assigned to drive, ski or snowshoe a set territory and Nature Map moose gender, age, location and the time of spotting.
Nature Mappers contribute important sightings in developed and rural areas not surveyed by professional game biologists who concentrate on public lands. Anyone who is not a certified Nature Mapper needs to go with someone who is. A training program about moose ecology and identification is also scheduled on February 24, 2016, but it is specifically for Moose Day, not a Nature Mapping certification.
Photo: Gigi Halloran
