Conducting Mountain Lion Research: A Citizen Science Project

Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy, a Colorado-based conservation group dedicated to promoting wild cat conservation through research and community stewardship, seeks to mitigate human-mountain lion conflicts through an innovative community stewardship project that engages local students and volunteers in citizen science research. In addition to establishing a permanent, outdoor, wildlife-based curriculum at Front Range Community College - Larimer Campus, Communities, Cameras and Conservation establishes a connection to conservation through hands-on education where no such opportunity currently exists. It creates a new prospect for community members to engage in citizen science research and serve as conservation envoys by raising the level of awareness of the wildlife in their backyards. Front Range Community College, in collaboration with Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy, has implemented an innovative research method that generates valuable, quantitative data, and enables full community engagement in understanding the movements and behaviors of our local mountain lion population. Students analyze the habitat and then install digital cameras, hike to the camera locations, retrieve the memory cards and download the information into a computer data program. They map the vegetation and record the biotic and abiotic factors affecting the land, including the human use of the area. After one year of data collection, students are able to map patterns of movement and compare these trends with existing data on mountain lions from other research. This has provided students, community residents, and park managers with information at a critical time as development continues to encroach on wildlife habitat, increasing urban wildlife contacts. All classes involved in this project work with the wildlife biologists on this project, giving them an opportunity to experience firsthand a career in natural resources management