by jhwildlife | Nov 21, 2016 | Blog, Wildlife Friendlier Landscapes
From left to right: JHWF Board President Aly Courtemanch, JHWF Associate Director Kate Gersh, JHWF Executive Director Jon Mobeck, Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society Board Member Ben Wise
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation received the Citizen of the Year Award for its Wildlife Friendlier Fencing Program on Thursday, November 17, at the Annual Meeting of the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society in Cody, Wyoming.
The Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society Board Member Ben Wise announced the award at the closing evening banquet at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Wise introduced JHWF’s Executive Director Jon Mobeck to accept the award on behalf of the many hundreds of volunteers who, collectively, were recognized as Citizen of the Year. The Society typically gives the award to individuals who have made a significant contribution to wildlife management. Wise and other nominating agency partners from Wyoming Game & Fish and the Bridger-Teton National Forest saw an opportunity to celebrate the dedicated community that has formed around the Wildlife Friendlier Fencing program. The program’s impact exceeds the 183 miles of fence it has removed or modified over 20 years. It has also served to embody a community’s commitment to a land ethic that highly values landscape permeability.
In a brief acceptance comment, Mobeck alluded to Aldo Leopold’s oft-quoted mantra: “There are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land.” Mobeck concluded that one benefit of the Wildlife Friendlier Fencing program is that it advances meaningfully both of these relationships. JHWF believes that communities of people that come together for wildlife, especially throughout the rural West, may bridge social divides as we also clear barriers to wildlife movement. Since wildlife is a deeply shared interest in Wyoming – a Western passion – that connects people to each other, we believe that we can weave together the ethical fabric that allows a community to live compatibly with wildlife, while connecting individual communities to each other across a larger landscape. That ensures a bright future for wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone for generations to come.
JHWF Executive Director Jon Mobeck accepts the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s Citizen of the Year award on behalf of program volunteers at the closing evening’s banquet dinner.
The conference in Cody, which brought together 150+ researchers, students and land managers for three days of talks, workshops, films, field trips and social gatherings, reflected this spirit. By promoting collaborative science and land management – and refreshingly linking art and science by inviting the gifted artist James Prosek to deliver the keynote talk at the banquet – the conference aims to build healthy and resilient landscapes for Wyoming’s wildlife and people.
On the opening evening of the conference, JHWF’s film “Free to Roam” was screened to a receptive and engaged audience. “Free to Roam” captures the essence of the Wildlife Friendlier Fencing program and many of the individuals who have been involved since its origin.
JHWF’s Board President Aly Courtemanch and Associate Director Kate Gersh also attended the conference, which enabled the organization to make many valuable connections to extend its reach, and learn from some of the best wildlife managers and advocates in the state.
The Wildlife Friendlier Fencing Program endures because of the relentless volunteer commitment of many individuals as well as the financial support of individual donors and many foundations and agencies over the years. Thank you to all who have made a contribution to this effort!
Read a short piece about the Award in the Jackson Hole News and Guide.
by jhwildlife | Oct 17, 2016 | Blog, Nature Mapping Jackson Hole
Registration is now open for the first ever Wyoming Citizen Science Conference! Hosted by the UW Biodiversity Institute, the conference will involve keynote and breakout sessions that guide program managers and citizen science participants (teachers, Scout leaders, community activists, etc.) to weigh in on what works well (and what doesn’t) in terms of having a successful, impactful citizen science program. The conference will be held in Lander, Wyoming, on December 1-2, 2016, and with an optional day on Saturday, December 3 to attend focused workshops.
We hope you can join us. The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation will be in attendance to represent Nature Mapping Jackson Hole – delivering two oral presentations and presenting two project posters in addition to, screening the film Far Afield. We’ll mainly be talking about lessons learned from the past eight years of Nature Mapping Jackson Hole, sharing our experiences and intending to learn much from others in attendance that will come from across the state. The organizers of this inaugural event hope to have a strong representation from active citizen scientists, not just those serving in professional capacities. Register today and come learn, share and be inspired!
Details on the conference agenda can be found here.
by jhwildlife | Sep 1, 2016 | Blog, Nature Mapping Jackson Hole
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation (JHWF) is proud to support the 2016 Wyoming Citizen Science Conference! JHWF’s Associate Director, Kate Gersh, serves on its program planning committee. We are also supporting the conference as a silver-level sponsor. Taking place this coming December in Lander, the Wyoming Citizen Science Conference (hosted by the UW Biodiversity Institute) is the first of its kind in our state, and will focus on the problems and solutions that citizen science program managers and volunteers face when implementing and participating in programs. Wyoming in particular faces interesting and specific challenges when designing, delivering, maintaining and evaluating citizen science programs. How does the state’s rural population influence recruitment and retention? How does the remoteness of some study areas and the high diversity of plant and wildlife impact study design? How can we make citizen science accessible and useful to teachers? What laws and rules do we need to be aware of?
We anticipate approximately 200 attendees, including program organizers, educators and citizen science volunteers. JHWF staff and many of Nature Mapping Jackson Hole’s Scientific Advisory Committee members plan to attend and present. JHWF also encourages our community’s citizen scientists to directly participate in the conference by delivering presentations or workshops of your own accord. Download the call for proposals here.
Proposals are due Sunday, September 18, 11:59 pm MST. Submit the completed form in Word or PDF format to UW Biodiversity Institute Project Coordinator Brenna Marsicek at brenna.marsicek@uwyo.edu.
Also, please save the conference dates of December 1-3, 2016, in your calendars. We very much hope to see you at this unique event that will for the first time link our statewide efforts.
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.
