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Wisconsin DNR Launches Statewide Trail-Camera Survey

By Patrick DurkinAugust 8, 2014

LAST UPDATED: May 1st, 2015

Hunters and other nature-watchers have been filling scrapbooks and computer folders with trail-camera photos of deer, bears and other wildlife for 20 years, and now the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is channeling that enthusiasm for a statewide survey using these motion-triggered cameras.

The “Snapshot Wisconsin” project hopes to work with citizens statewide to monitor and maintain about 4,000 trail-cameras to document what’s living on the state’s diverse landscapes. The survey will use a statewide grid with four trail-cameras in every 6-by-6-mile township, or one every nine square miles. 

An Immature Bald Eagle

A Red Fox

Trail-cameras work 24-7 to photograph wildlife in their natural settings, whether it’s a young bald eagle eating a fish or an adult red fox just passing through.

In case you somehow haven’t heard about trail-cameras, they’re small, rugged devices mounted inside a protective shell that’s strapped to trees, poles or fence posts. They snap photos or video footage when birds or animals trigger their motion sensors. Most trail-cameras work 24-7, using natural light in daylight and flash units or infrared technology at night. They store the digital images and video on an internal disk, which are periodically retrieved and transferred to a computer.

Trail-cameras are popular with deer and bear hunters who like to see what’s roaming the lands they hunt. Researchers also use these units to conduct wildlife surveys, estimate populations, and assess a herd’s health and sex/age composition. Researchers at Mississippi State University even developed a software program for estimating antler scores of bucks “caught on camera.”

To prepare for the statewide effort, the Wisconsin DNR recently placed 80 trail-cameras across 11 counties to determine how best to set up and collect their images in a consistent, systematic, scientific manner. Results from this pilot program will help guide the statewide survey, which the agency hopes to start in 2015.

Jennifer Stenglein, a DNR wildlife researcher in Madison, Wisconsin, is coordinating the program. Stenglein said the cameras will remain active year-round, so they must be placed where their view won’t be obscured by winter snowdrifts or summer vegetation. The researchers will work with citizens to place the cameras in different terrains and habitat types to document which wildlife is present and assess their distribution year-round.

A Buck at Night

Trail-cameras can provide valuable data about wildlife if the photos are stored and cataloged systematically.

The agency is currently reviewing bids from manufacturers to supply about 4,000 camera units, cable locks, chargers and rechargeable batteries. Stenglein said the cameras will be basic units that take normal photos, not high-resolution images and video.

The DNR hopes to work not only with landowners, but also educators who will include the study in their classwork. “This would be a great educational tool where students could enjoy learning what lives in their district’s school forest,” Stenglein said. “We’re depending on citizens to make this succeed. It has the potential to gather more Wisconsin wildlife data than anything ever done before.”

Stenglein said the study would run through 2018, and be funded by federal revenues from the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program, as well as a NASA grant obtained through the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The grant will help pay for photo analysis that studies cyclic and seasonal patterns of Wisconsin’s plants and wildlife.

In addition to seeking “citizen-scientists” in Wisconsin, the DNR will work with the Adler Planetarium in Chicago to post the study’s trail-camera photos on its worldwide network for about 800,000 people with home computers. Viewers will identify the wildlife, count their numbers and describe what they’re doing in an online survey.

“This feedback will build a great data set for us,” Stenglein said. “They’ll see a photo on one side of their screen, and possible answers on the other side. We hope they’ll enjoy it as if it’s a game and keep coming back. Each photo will be categorized into the various wildlife categories and verified.”

Stenglein hopes the study will help the DNR piece together a comprehensive map showing wildlife numbers and distribution patterns, and how they change by season. Currently, much of what we know about wildlife populations is based on harvest data from hunting and trapping, as well as observation data collected systematically along roads each year.

A Buck in Meadow

Although bowhunters love trail-cameras for seeing what kind of bucks are hanging out, the images they capture also provide insights into other wildlife roaming the property.

“The trail-cameras will give us data from deep in the woods, back in marshes and along distant fields,” Stenglein said. “Some wildlife is so secretive that few people see or hear it. The results could also aid decision-making by providing health observations, reproductive rates and behavioral insights.”

Stenglein also thinks the study will supplement ongoing surveys like annual summertime doe-fawn ratios, and perhaps provide a better assessment of bobcat numbers in southern Wisconsin. It might also help determine how many feral hogs are rooting up the Driftless region in southwestern counties; and how many lynx, moose and badgers actually roam its Northern forests.

“This study has huge potential for engaging thousands of people in an educational project that involves science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Stenglein said.

To learn more about “Snapshot Wisconsin,” visit CLICK HERE 

To learn more about volunteering as a camera monitor, contact Stenglein at [email protected].

Patrick Durkin
President at Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association
Patrick Durkin is a lifelong bowhunter and full-time freelance outdoor writer/editor who lives in Waupaca, Wisconsin. He has covered hunting, fishing and outdoor issues since 1983. His work appears regularly in national hunting publications, and his weekly outdoors column has appeared regularly in over 20 Wisconsin newspapers since 1984.
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