DNR Wants Citizen Scientists To Track Wildlife Populations
Annual surveys enlist Wisconsinites to monitor deer and game birds numbers.
White-tailed deer. USDA photo by Scott Bauer. (CC BY 2.0)
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is looking for citizen scientists to help track deer and game bird populations.
Each year, the DNR asks for submissions through its Operation Deer Watch and Game Bird Observation surveys.
The DNR typically receives over 1,000 deer observations and nearly 900 game bird sightings from Wisconsinites annually. DNR Survey Coordinator Paul Frater said the more public observations that are counted, the more accurate the census can be for the future hunting season.
“They definitely help contribute observations which gives us a good indication for reproduction of our deer and game birds, and that’s just an objective way for us to measure how well those populations are faring for this particular year,” Frater said.
An accurate count of deer and game birds during the summer is crucial to the state’s future hunting season, he said. It determines whether or not the DNR needs to limit or allow more hunting across harvest populations.
“If we are finding that over the longer term, our populations are not doing as well, we might have to take action, as far as you know, maybe reducing the number of quotas or being a little bit more restrictive of harvest,” Frater said. “On the flip side, if we find that our populations are doing really well, we may be able to add quotas to these particular species.”
Wild turkeys are a common sight in Wisconsin in the fall. USFWSmidwest (CC-BY).
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Executive Director Cody Kamrowski believes the surveys help not only animals and wildlife biologists but also everyday Wisconsinites.
“Just getting members of the public engaged with wildlife is beneficial for everybody, because when citizens are engaged with wildlife, they understand wildlife more, and they take more pride and ownership in the wildlife that we have in the great state of Wisconsin,” Kamrowski said.
State recruits citizen scientists to track wildlife populations was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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