Field Tested: Adrian K.

I have spent the past six weeks as a trainee in HRWR’s Field Immersion Program, and I have honestly loved every second of it. It has been such a privilege to learn so much from the incredible team at Home Range.

A large part of this program was spent developing experience for future field work. I honed my skills in radio telemetry, trail camera deployment and maintenance, conducting habitat surveys, study design, data analysis, wildlife track and sign, and building trap sets, among other things. I also gained a variety of more general skills that come in handy in the field of conservation: backroads driving, skinning a carcass, backing up with a trailer, and even deploying bear spray!

We were given a number of opportunities to practice all of these skills. We spent a day tracking down a local collared Mule deer doe with radio telemetry, and even got close enough to spot another deer in her group. We went out with the Methow Beaver Project to conduct habitat surveys and record historic beaver activity. We deployed and maintained trail cameras for HRWR’s Human-Bear Coexistence Project, driving all over the valley to switch out SD cards and batteries. We got to design a mock study, starting in ArcGIS and finishing out in the field conducting a pellet plot survey where we counted snowshoe hare pellets up in the Tripod Burn area. In one of our plots (one square meter), we counted 967 pellets! That’s some pretty prolific rabbits.

Counting snowshoe hare pellets for a mock study of species density (left). Skinning a roadkill carcass for necropsy practice (right). That was a pungent day!

Perhaps my favourite skill to learn (if it’s possible to pick one) was the wildlife tracking. Throughout the entire program, we always kept our eyes peeled for tracks or signs left by various animals, and slowly we were able to build up our identification skills. Local tracking enthusiast Jan Sodt was kind enough to take us out one afternoon and filled our brains with her incredible insights, showing us everything from antler rubs and rodent chews to skunk tracks and deer teeth! She was a true wealth of knowledge. We were then tested on our tracking skills by CyberTracker evaluator Dave Moskowitz. The evaluation structure is based on the teaching method of the San people of South Africa, which involves a group discussion and eventual consensus, meaning that the evaluation itself is an incredible learning opportunity. Dave had us identify tracks and sign from a huge variety of animals, including bear, moose, turkey, elk, skunk, cougar, bobcat, coyote, chipmunk, beetle, woodpecker, beaver, racoon, raven, river otter, and mink! I had a lot of fun and soaked up as much information as possible. 

Examining a set of moose tracks during our track and sign evaluation with Dave Moskowitz.

Another major highlight for me was the time we spent shadowing local wildlife biologists and other experts. The Methow Valley is home to so many spectacular people in the field of wildlife science, and I really appreciated the opportunities that arose to learn from and work alongside these people. 

Our first chance came when we got to go out with wolf biologist Gabe Spence while he checked his trap line, hoping to catch a wolf from the Navarre Pack in order to collar it. We didn’t get lucky that day, but we did catch a coyote, and got to experience the process of releasing it. Such beautiful animals! Gabe spent the rest of the day teaching us track and sign skills as we followed a wolf’s tracks up a road in an adjacent drainage. He enthusiastically answered all of our questions, and was generally just a delight to learn from. 

Practicing making sets for foothold traps. These traps (with rubber-lined jaws) are used for catching Canids like coyotes and wolves, as these animals are too wary to enter a box trap. 

John Kolts, a local volunteer for the Xerces Society and their Bumble Bee Atlas project, kindly offered to take us out along with Logan Parr from Conservation Northwest to conduct a bumble bee survey as part of a long-term monitoring project. John was a fabulous teacher, and by the end of our survey (which involved a lot of frolicking through the flowers with a bug net, and was exactly as fun as that sounds) we were even able to tell apart different species of bumble bees! No small feat, let me tell you. With John’s help, we identified 13 different species!

Smiles all around after a successful bumble bee survey (left). The Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius) was one of our most common catches (right). Did you know that honey bees are not native to North America, and often crowd out our native species?

Retired woodpecker biologist Julie Hovis gave us an introduction to passerine (perching birds) molt limits, migratory behaviours, feather tracks, and the history of bird banding. She then took us out for a wonderful morning of mist netting, where we caught and banded several local species such as the catbird, chickadee, Swainson’s thrush, and song sparrow. 

John Rohrer, the retired District Biologist for the Methow Valley Ranger District, offered to teach us about his work with northern Pacific rattlesnakes. After giving us an overview of the life history of these animals, John taught us how to safely tube a rattlesnake, take weight and length measurements, and then insert a PIT tag so that the animal could be identified in the event of a recapture. John was very generous with his time and knowledge, and I had so much fun learning about our local rattlers!

  

Preparing to PIT tag a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. This guy was a beauty!

Above all, my time in this program has shown me that I have a deep love for working outdoors in the field of wildlife science. Not only have I gained invaluable skills and experience, but I have also made connections with a whole host of incredible people. The team at HRWR is made up of some of the most passionate and inspiring individuals I have ever met, and I am exceptionally grateful to have had this opportunity to learn from them. This program has motivated me to continue working in this field, and I am excited to see how I will put these skills to use next!

Special thank you to Gabe Spence, Logan Parr, Kristin Botzet, John Kolts, Kent Woodruff, Julie Hovis, the Methow Beaver Project, John Rohrer, Jan Sodt, and Dave Moskowitz for sharing your time and expertise!