Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is recruiting volunteers to take over monitoring and maintaining the trail cameras set up in the Black River State forest.
The trail cam project is intended to provide an accurate and cost-effective system for monitoring Wisconsin elk herds. It will enable researchers to estimate the size of herd and the cow/bull ratios. In addition, volunteer monitors can provide a picture of wolf, bear, deer, turkeys and other wildlife populations within the elk range.
Volunteers will be asked to commit to volunteering for at least a year, attend a training session and make four camera checks each year.
Each camera check is estimated to take one to three hours. Maintenance could include replacing memory card and camera batteries, clear vegetation from around the camera and fill out simple data sheet. After doing the camera check, volunteers will upload photos onto a personalized website, view and classify the photos.
Training and equipment will be provided, but volunteers will need to have transportation to the camera site they are monitoring, access to a GPS unit, a working email account, an internet connection, a computer with Windows operating system and camera memory chip (SD card) reader.
Interested parties in the Black River Falls area are asked to sign up online at http://goo.gl/forms/iE2noJRArw. For more information, contact Susan Frett at 608-221-6323 or by emailing Susan.Frett@wisconsin.gov.