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Abstract |
In 2015 a university research groupbegan developing new methods for data collection using wildlife cameras (game cameras) for short-term (7-day) and long-term (year-round) data collection at pre-selected recreation sites. The pilot study is in support of the US Forest Service (Region 6) National Visitor Use Monitoring Program (NVUM) program. NVUM has been the sole method of understanding visitor use within the US Forest Service since 2000. The USFS NVUM program manager selected 13 sites across Region 6 for the pilot study. Game camera methodology includes 16 short-term data collection sites scheduled for data collection at various times throughout the FY 2016 (four sites per Forest). These are a selection of low use sites and the goal is to continue to collect better quality data, reduce potential safety concerns, and at a reduced financial cost. Long-term data collection involves deploying cameras for year-round data collection.These is a selection of Permanent Traffic Counter sites where other monitoring methods pneumatic and infrared counters) are not appropriate for long-term monitoring due to factors such as geography (e.g. destruction by snow-plows) and limitations of the units (e.g. failure of some infrared counters to register high use counts).For both short-term and long-term sites, cameras can be used to collect valuable data pertaining to trail use (group size, overnight or day use, length of stay, etc.) and vehicle use (vehicles counts entering/exiting the Forest, vehicle type, etc.). Accordingly, we sought to a) Determine appropriate interval settings for cameras based on site type (i.e. necessary frequency of the recording of images to capture use of trails, roads) and b) Gather more information to contribute to the protocol in development for short-term (7-day) and long-term sites. |
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