Wildlife paparazzi, in the form of motion-triggered cameras, will be stationed throughout Lone Mesa State Park this spring.
The park was awarded a $6,000 grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Great Outdoors Colorado for a long-term photography survey.
Thirty wildlife cameras will be positioned throughout the 12,000-acre nature preserve north of Dolores to gather baseline data on a diverse wildlife population and key habitat areas.
Park manager Scot Elder said the undeveloped park creates an opportunity to study wildlife needs before recreation facilities are put in place.
“Establishing that baseline data on wildlife density and species is really valuable for managing recreation impacts, such as planning for the best place to put trails,” he said.
After trails, picnic areas and possibly campgrounds are developed, the cameras will continue to provide data for park development and impacts of outdoor recreation on wildlife. The camera data will also help determine potential impacts from oil and gas development.
Except for limited, permitted hunting opportunities, Lone Mesa is closed to the general public pending a management plan and funding for recreation infrastructure.
Along with collecting data on different species, cameras also will help pinpoint critical migration corridors, nesting sites, wildlife water sources, and calving and fawning areas.
Lone Mesa is home to deer, elk, bears, wildcats, foxes, coyotes, Gunnison prairie dogs, beaver, native fish and a variety of bird species, including wild turkeys.
“The photos we collect will help us and the public understand the diversity of the park,” Elder said. “The land has historically been stewarded very well and has a variety of ecosystems. It has the large contiguous acreage that wildlife likes.”
Jeff Thompson, a Parks and Wildlife staffer with the project, said one goal will be collaborating with natural resource students from Fort Lewis College to replicate the study and enhance the data.
“The study will inform us on future decisions, and enable us to monitor conditions before and after recreation plans are implemented,” he said. “The bonus is that we may get information on species we did not know were in that area.”
The grant for the wildlife camera project is one of the first grant awards from the Director’s Innovation Fund.
The fund targets one-time, innovative projects that would not otherwise receive funding from either Parks and Wildlife or Great Outdoors Colorado.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
