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 Adopt a Wildlife Area

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Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Brilyn Brecka (bbrec923@uwsp.edu), Jeffrey Edwards (jedwa186@uwsp.edu), Adam Nyhus (anyhus257@uwsp.edu), Quinn Erdmann (qerdm316@uwsp.edu), Rose Arnold (rarno286@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Buena Vista Wildlife Area

Transportation: Co-Leaders

When: Year-round

Volunteer Duties: Assist Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with wildlife habitat management, invasive species control, and wildlife surveys. Participants usually operate chainsaws and brush saws to remove brush and trees from Prairie Chicken habitat. An exciting addition to duties includes a partnership with SnapShot Wisconsin to study the Prairie Chicken population on the property and their behaviors.

What to Bring: Appropriate clothing, hiking boots or appropriate shoes, work gloves, water, lunch

Project Purpose: To give students the opportunity to receive hands on experience in habitat management and restoration for grassland species.

 Advisor: Dr. Riddle


 Bat


 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Avantika D'Cruz (adcru394@uwsp.edu), Rachel Dooley (rdool087@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Schmeeckle, Parks around Point, Wildwood Zoo

Transportation: Car, walking

When: Early Fall (Sep-Oct), Late Spring (April-May)

Volunteer Duties: Bat box building, learn about technology used for research, help identify bats and calls

What to Bring: Headlamp, Phone (Apple products preferred)/Tablet, appropriate dress attire (coats, hats, long pants, etc.) for collecting data in the field.

Project Purpose: Evaluate fluctuations of bat communities in central Wisconsin.

 Advisor: Dr. Yahnke


 Bear


Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Hayden Walkush (hwalk218@uwsp.edu), Sam Andres (sandr296@uwsp.edu), Sophie Reid (sreid031@uwsp.edu), Alayna Reynolds (areyn827@uwsp.edu), Cece Giesen (cgies194@uwsp.edu), William Watry (wwatr679@uwsp.edu), Quinn Erdmann (qerdm316@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: TBD

Transportation: Co-leaders will provide transportation

When: TBD

Volunteer Duties: Check hair snares and trail cameras.

What to Bring: Water, gloves, appropriate footwear

Project Purpose: Genetic diversity of black bears in Wisconsin and increasing the number of bears in the area.

Advisor: Dr. Crimmins

 Canid

    

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Nathan Bartels (nbart763@uwsp.edu), Julia Nasiatka (jnasi726@uwsp.edu), Benjamin Van Kirk (bvank356@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Treehaven

Transportation: Personal Vehicles

 When: First and Second Semester

Volunteer Duties: Installation of trail cameras and collecting data from cameras

What to Bring: Appropriate clothing for collecting data in the field

Project Purpose: Record and grade trail camera set-up given certain instructions

Advisor: Dr. Sartini

 Deer


 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Jeffrey Edwards (jedwa186@uwsp.edu), Harrison Stasik (hstas943@uwsp.edu), Anna Matthews (amath318@uwsp.edu), Mason Wheeler (mwhee629@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Schmeeckle Reserve

Transportation: Personal Cars, Walking

When: Spring

Volunteer Duties: Help with trapping deer   

What to Bring: Headlamp if needed, appropriate clothing

Project Purpose: TBD  

Advisor: Dr. Hygnstrom

 Felid


 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Benjamin Schutt (bschu281@uwsp.edu), Stephen Van Horne (svanh026@uwsp.edu), Harrison Stasik (hstas943@uwsp.edu), Tristan Stanton (tstan216@uwsp.edu), Alayna Corbisier (acorb979@uwsp.edu), Jessica Bjornson (jbjor299@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Mead Wildlife Area

Transportation: Co-leaders

When: TBD

Volunteer Duties: TBD

What to Bring: TBD

Project Purpose: To analyze bobcat behavior, home range, and diet

Advisor: N/A


 Fisher


 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Noah Andexler (nande975@uwsp.edu), Tess Bigalke (tbiga779@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Mead Wildlife Area

Transportation: Personal Vehicles

When: Fall, possibly spring

Volunteer Duties: Assist in setting traps and trail cameras

What to Bring: Outdoor gear for hiking, headlamps

Project Purpose: To study and map fisher home ranges

Advisor: Dr. Sartini

 Flying Squirrel

       

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Amber Smith (asmit846@uwsp.edu), Tess Bigalke (tbiga779@uwsp.edu), Katie Stough (kstou995@uwsp.edu), Jeremy Murray (jmurr966@uwsp.edu), James Doss (jdoss792@uwsp.edu), Kody Woodcock (kwood935@uwsp.edu), and Pamela Regan (prega117@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Schmeeckle Reserve

Transportation: Walking

When: September-October

Volunteer Duties: help check and bait traps

What to Bring: Headlamp, boots, smile

Project Purpose: Understand the flying squirrel population in Schmeeckle Reserve

Advisor: Shelli Dubay

 Gray Squirrel

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Maddie Hartlaub (mhart790@uwsp.edu), Adam Tess (atess490@uwsp.edu), Kaylee Woelfel (kwoel5082uwsp.edu), Nicole Luoma (nluom231@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Schmeeckle Reserve

Transportation: Walking

When: First three months of second semester, January-March

Volunteer Duties: Help place and check traps, handle wildlife, assist with data analyzation

What to Bring: Warm clothes and a good attitude

Project Purpose: To look at grey squirrel distribution at Schmeeckle Reserve

Advisor: Shelli Dubay

 Lagomorph


 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Maddie Tokarski (mtoka592@uwsp.edu), Trevor Pike (tpike323@uwsp.edu), Garrett Schneider (gschn110@uwsp.edu), Aubree Hagen (ahage539@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Dr. Sarah Orlofske’s property (30 min drive)

Transportation: Personal Vehicles

When: January-March

Volunteer Duties: Collect scat, prepare ear tags, record data

What to Bring: Warm clothes (outside activities for approximately 1 hr.)

Project Purpose: Compare eastern cottontail masses to parasite load in scat

Advisor: Dr. Orlofske

 Otter


Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Danni Brosend (dbros586@uwsp.edu), Amay Rushing (arush769@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Mead Wildlife Area

Transportation: Co-Leaders

When: TBD

Volunteer Duties: TBD

What to Bring: Good attitude

Project Purpose: Track surveys in Mead for furbearers

Advisor: Justin Sipiorski

 Ruffed Grouse

    

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Brady Roberts (brobe131@uwsp.edu), Catrina Johnson (cjohn454@uwsp.edu), Zach Cason (zcaso259@uwsp.edu), Ava Weisbeck (aweis079@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Treehaven, Tomahawk, WI

Transportation: Personal Transportation

When: Spring Semester

Volunteer Duties: Do point count surveys, trap male ruffed grouse, collar them, conduct telemetry on grouse

What to Bring: Sleeping bag, food, work clothes, good walking shoes

Project Purpose: To determine why a ruffed grouse chooses a drumming log

Advisor: Dr. Riddle


 Saw-whet Owl

  

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Dana Lotz (dlotz506@uwsp.edu), Sophie Hauser (shaus129@uwsp.edu), Josiah Gritter (jgrit918@uwsp.edu), Ruby Valadez (rvala443@uwsp.edu), Sophie Reid (sreid031@uwsp.edu), Nicole Luoma (nluom231@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Sandhill Wildlife Area

Transportation: Co-leader or volunteer vehicles 

When: October-November on weekends

Volunteer Duties: Participate in set up and tear down of mist nets, help with banding and processing of birds, participate in net checks (8pm-2am)

What to Bring: Bedding, food for the weekend, warm clothes, warm/sturdy hiking boots, homework for downtime

Project Purpose: Investigating migratory trends and life-history characteristics. ​​

Advisor: Dr. Riddle

 Small Mammal

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Shelby Truckenbrod (struc634@uwsp.edu), Avantika D'Cruz (adcru934@uwsp.edu), Anna Matthews (amath318@uwsp.edu), Molly Murr (mmurr747@uwsp.edu), Emily Kasal (ekasa624@uwsp.edu), Rachel Schmid (rschm068@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Schmeeckle Reserve, Stevens Point

Transportation: Walking

When: mid-September-October

Volunteer Duties: Check traps and tag ears

What to Bring: Boots, headlamp, appropriate clothing

Project Purpose: To quantify small mammal diversity in Schmeeckle Reserve

Advisor: Dr. Yahnke



 Waterfowl

  

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Victoria Fasbender (vfasb122@uwsp.edu), Aiden Gehrke (agehr082@uwsp.edu), Jacob Tepsa (jteps334@uwsp.edu), Grace Wieland (gwiel295@uwsp.edu), & Will Smith (wsmit404@uwsp.edu), Casey Baye (cbaye115@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Mead Wildlife Area

Transportation: Carpool

When: January-February

Volunteer Duties: Check wood duck box conditions, replace bedding, record status of box (used, successful, etc…)

What to Bring: Warm clothing, work gloves, snacks and water

Project Purpose: Check use and success of waterfowl nesting in boxes at Mead Wildlife Area

Advisor: Dr. Sedinger


 Wild Bird

   

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Amanda Leemann (aleem726@uwsp.edu), Sophia Sperduto (ssper053@uwsp.edu), Rachel Schmid (rschm068@uwsp.edu), Hannah Wachtler (hwach328@uwsp.edu)

Raptor Road Survey

Location: Buena Vista

Transportation: One of project leaders or participants drives

When: Saturday and Sunday afternoons a few times a month. Surveys last about 3 - 4 hours.

Volunteer Duties: Look for raptors or possibly record observations

What to Bring: Binoculars and bird books if you have them, and munchies for the ride

What We Are Looking For: Raptors -- perching, soaring, stooping, etc.

Project Purpose: Give students chance to see and identify WI raptor by species, age, and sex.


Saw-Whet Owl Banding

Location: Linwood Springs Research Station, Stevens Point

Transportation: Volunteers drive

When: Most nights throughout October; times vary 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Volunteer Duties: Assist master bander Gene Jacobs in handling owls and taking measurements. Our primary goal is helping Gene any way we can and being courteous of other visitors and the Jacobs' home.

What We Are Looking For: Collecting data on and banding migrating saw-whets and other owls.

Project purpose: Contributing to the scientific knowledge base by acquiring basic life history data; learning techniques for removing birds from mist nets and processing them.

This is a separate project from the TWS Saw-Whet Owl Project.

Visit Gene Jacob's website -- www.raptorresearch.com


Crane Count

Location: Portage County

Transportation: Volunteers with cars

When: One weekend in mid-late April; watch announcements for more specific dates

Volunteer Duties: Spot, count, and record crane numbers

What to Bring: Warm clothes and binoculars

What We Are Looking For: Helping International Crane Foundation (ICF) census Sandhill crane populations

Project Purpose: Sandhill crane census. Learn more on www.savingcranes.org

Primary Contact: Miranda Myli (mmyli483@uwsp.edu)


Road Trips

Wild bird project goes on various bird related trips as time allows. These trips include to Raptor Education Group in Antigo WI, the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo WI, Hawk Ridge in Duluth MN, and the Mississippi River.


 Woodcock

   

 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Shelby Truckenbrod (struc634@uwsp.edu), Jeffrey Edwards (jedwa186@uwsp.edu), Everly Eldeen (eelde873@uwsp.edu), Zach Cason (zcaso259@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Buena Vista Wildlife Area

Transportation: Personal Vehicles

When: April-May

Volunteer Duties: Working mist nests and assisting in banding process

What to Bring: Appropriate clothing

Project Purpose: Track woodcock populations

Advisor: N/A


 Woodpecker

 
 

Project Co-Leaders and Emails: Emily Knaack (eknaa486@uwsp.edu), Grant Koch (gkoch389@uwsp.edu), Jesse Tucker (jtuck249@uwsp.edu)

Project Location: Sandhill Wildlife Area (Babcock, WI)

Transportation: Co-leaders

When: After winter break and before spring break on weekends

Volunteer Duties: Get up at 6am to open traps on Saturday and Sunday, check traps at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm, 10 miles of hiking per day, assist with bird banding, handling, and processing, etc…

What to Bring: Bedding, food for the weekend, warm clothes, warm/sturdy hiking boots, homework for downtime

Project Purpose: To examine pair-bonding relationships and home ranges in woodpecker and nuthatch species

Advisor: Dr. Riddle

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