Part of something bigger
Post by 2002 student Ethan Van-Derpoel
For the final part of this course, we looked at the wildlife aspect of the ranch and how the ranch was affected by the fire. To do this we used several methods for monitoring: trail cameras, bat detectors, drift fences, and cavity nest surveys. It was interesting to try all these different methods for studying wildlife. We also met with a couple of experts in the wildlife field who work with prairie wildlife/ecosystems, or Rocky Mountain wildlife/ecosystems in the case of Tony Mong.
Of the methods I really enjoyed the trail cameras and drift fences because I thought the idea of drift fences is a really neat idea. I also really like looking through trail cam photos because when you finally see something, other than grass blowing in the wind, it is so exciting! We got so many species on our cameras: mice, mule deer, a bird, and even a bobcat. It is going to be really interesting to look through all the photos and see how the wildlife have been affected by the wildfire. Although we set up the drift fences and cameras to survey for small mammals and herps we caught a couple of horses and I think maybe a cow someone said. I thought that it was really cool to see the wildlife and domestic animals both sharing the same land, and both have to find ways to deal with the aftermath of the fire. We still have a lot of photos to sift through and I am excited to see what all we find.
During this section we also got a chance to go to spend a couple of days camping outside of Yellowstone. While all that was really fun, we got to meet Wyoming Big Game Biologist Tony Mong as we were heading back to Montana. He was a wealth of knowledge regarding wildlife and human interactions. He also explained how he had to interact with so many different stakeholders, from hunters to homeowners to federal and county agencies. He told us some tips like make sure to listen to everyone, be transparent in what we do, admit when you don’t know something and need to look something up. Seeing how he was able to deal with the public and other interested parties was really important to what we were doing at the ranch because there are multiple parties with an interest in what information we come up with. It is going to be really exciting to take those skills and put them to use someday.
Another person that came out to meet us was Rebecca from the Bureau of Land Management. She came to visit the ranch on a day that we had been conducting cavity nest surveys. She was extremely knowledgeable regarding the birds of the area and was very interested in our project on the ranch. She also knew a lot about Montana ecology and spoke to us about what she was seeing post-fire. It was great having her come visit because she also talked a while about her experiences working in the wildlife/natural resources profession and I really appreciated hearing that. It is super helpful to hear different people’s insight and experiences on finding jobs or grad schools especially since I am graduating in December. I really enjoyed being able to meet her and hope the next group learns just as much.
One of the best parts of the wildlife section was the cavity nest surveys. As much as walking up and down hills and through thistle might not seem enjoyable it was a great way to spend the last couple of days on the ranch. I think that being able to spread out from just our 20 by 20-meter plots did a lot for my perception of this project. Just being able to go over a hill and see how far the ranch property went and how far the fire reached shows how big of a project that we are apart of. I also really like the cavity nesting surveys because I am not really good at identifying birds or really anything bird related, and this gave me a lot of time to practice and learn about the birds in the area. I think that I might even go out looking for cavity nests back in Clemson now.
The last thing we did before we left was setting up exclosures (fenced in areas) to allow a small plot to go undisturbed from any cattle or wildlife. I really enjoyed knowing that I was doing something that was going to last at least a little while. I hope that the next group that goes out to the ranch gets some good data based on what we started. I think starting something that is going to be part of a bigger project is really important and working with natural resources it is something that has to be done. The wildlife section taught me a lot of skills and I was able to really connect with the ranch and this project.
