Volunteers
Wanted to Help Keep Track of Imperiled Wildlife
It’s 10 p.m. on a summer night
along a gravel road anywhere in Iowa. A raucous chorus of male frogs are making
themselves heard as they vie for mates in the farm pond next to the road. A
volunteer stands clipboard in hand, ear cocked, mentally sorting out each of the
calling species and the number of individuals that might be using this seemingly
ordinary pond.
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 a one-ton nest, home to two bald eagles and
their 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). The state is big, the species are many, and the staff
to monitor these species are few; volunteers are really crucial to ensure that
these species remain stable. Every March and April, DNR staff travel around the
state leading six training workshops, readying folks to collect data on some of
Iowa’s critical wildlife. Participants in these workshops have begun a journey
to become Certified Volunteer Wildlife Monitors and will be intrinsically
involved in wildlife conservation in Iowa.
Two types of trainings are
offered: one for folks interested in monitoring raptor or colonial water bird
nesting sites and one for people more interested in performing a frog call
survey. Raptors and Colonial Waterbirds (herons, egrets, night-herons and
cormorants) are targeted because of their role as top predators and their
dependence on particular habitats. Frogs and toads are also an important group
for data collection because of their dependence on clean water and evidence of
global decline among all amphibians. Volunteer monitors should have some tech
savvy and computer and web access.
Each year an army of volunteers
helps the DNR keep an eye (and ear) on these important resources. The Volunteer
Wildlife Monitoring Program provides an opportunity for adults who love the
outdoors and wildlife to be directly involved with the conservation and
monitoring of Iowa’s resources. VWMP Bird workshops in 2011 will be held in
Jackson, Palo Alto and Warren Counties in March and frog and toad survey
trainings will be held in Wapello, Crawford and Warren Counties in April. Each
workshop requires pre-registration and a $10 registration fee pays for training
materials, a meal, subscription to a bi-annual newsletter, a frog and toad call
CD or bird identification guide, and certification costs. Here are the times and
locations:
Bird Nest Monitoring Workshops
(Raptors and Colonial Waterbirds)
Anyone interested in being a
Bald Eagle Nest Monitor must attend a training session.
March 5
Palo Alto County
Conservation's Lost Island Nature Center, 3259 355th Ave., Ruthven
10 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.
March 19
Warren County Conservation,
Annett Nature Center, 15565 118th Ave., Indianola
10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
March 26
Jackson County
Conservation, Hurstville Interpretive Center, 18670 63rd St., Maquoketa
10
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Frog and Toad Call Survey
Workshops
Anyone interested in
participating in the Frog and Toad Call Survey must attend a training
session.
April 6
Crawford County
Conservation, Yellow Smoke Parks Environmental Education Center, 2237 Yellow
Smoke Road, Denison
5:30 to 9 p.m.
April 7
Warren County Conservation,
Annett Nature Center, 15565 118th Ave., Indianola
5:30 to 9 p.m.
April 13
Wapello County
Conservation, Pioneer Ridge Nature Center; 1339 Highway 63, Bloomfield
5:30
to 9 p.m.
Mail your address, phone number, email address and $10 registration fee, as well as the date, location and type of training you desire, to Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program, Boone Wildlife Research Station, 1436 255th St., Boone, IA 50036. For more information and to obtain a registration form, go to http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/diversity/vwmp.html or contact Stephanie Shepherd, (515) 432-2823, ext. 102, [log in to unmask] .