From Iowa DNR
Iowans Help Keep Track of
Imperiled Wildlife
It’s 10 o’clock on a summer night along a
gravel road anywhere in
Skip over to a Saturday morning by the
river where another volunteer has binoculars trained on the tallest tree in the
vicinity. In this tree is an enormous nest, home to two bald eagles and
their brood of young. Are there two or three young in that nest?
Hard to tell and a follow up visit will be needed; in the meantime, notes are
taken and a peaceful half hour is spent watching one of the most spectacular
birds in North America.
Both of these volunteers were trained
through Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring
Program (VWMP). Late each winter, staff with the Iowa DNR’s wildlife
diversity program lead three to four training workshops to teach volunteers how
to collect data on some of Iowa’s critical wildlife. The state is big, the
species are many and the staff to monitor those species is few so volunteers are
crucial to ensure that these species remain stable.
There are two programs: one for monitoring
raptors and colonial waterbird nesting sites, and one for monitoring wetlands
for frogs and toads. Some of the raptors the DNR is interested in
monitoring are the newly de-listed bald eagle, as well as the Cooper’s hawk and
great horned owl.
Colonial waterbirds are so called because
they nest in noisy social groups close to water and include such species as
great blue herons, great egrets and yellow-crowned night-herons. All of
these species exhibit a measure of site fidelity, returning to the same nest
year after year. Each volunteer for the frog and toad survey program
visits five to eight wetland sites three times a summer and identifies all the
frog and toad species using the areas for breeding. Amphibians are an
especially important group to monitor since they are declining globally and are
important indicators of water quality.
Each year an army of volunteers helps the
wildlife diversity program to keep an eye (and ear) on these important
resources. The volunteer wildlife monitoring program provides an
opportunity for people who love the outdoors and wildlife to be directly
involved with the conservation and monitoring of