Wyoming has seen a rapid increase in outdoor recreation in recent years, and biologists are uncovering new details about how people are impacting wildlife health.

Using motion-triggered speakers and trail cameras, researchers are capturing what happens when wild animals hear humans.

Meghan Riley, public lands and wildlife advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said hikers or mountain bikers frequently enter what's called a "zone of influence" along a trail, which is especially stressful in winter months.

"An animal might hear or smell you, and bolt, and you might not even see that has happened," Riley explained. "It might not look like a big deal, but that animal is expending energy at the time of year when it most needs to conserve energy."

People making noise in wild spaces can lead to habitat fragmentation, and animals on constant high alert are more stressed and spend less time feeding. The U.S. Forest Service is collecting data on how human sounds affect animals calling the Bridger-Teton National Forest home as it considers revisions to its land management plan.

Riley pointed out the research is important for land and wildlife managers working to ensure Wyoming's wild spaces do not become "loved to death." Earlier this year, state lawmakers created a trust fund to finance recreation infrastructure. Riley added officials can tap the findings as they consider where to install new trails and campsites.

"I think there's a way to make sure that people have the access to the outdoors that they need to thrive, but do it in a way that is intelligent and protective of the wildlife resources that we all cherish," Riley emphasized.

Riley noted officials can also ensure wildlife are getting a break from human disruptions through brief seasonal closures in key areas and at specific times of year.

"Trying to keep people out of big game winter range," Riley suggested. "Or in the summer, when animals are having their babies, keeping people out of nesting areas, places where calves are being born."


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Teams of researchers and volunteers will fan out at dawn Friday with their smartphones and binoculars on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus for a 24-hour biological scavenger hunt, known as "BioBlitz."

The annual event comes as new research shows Florida's natural habitats are disappearing at unprecedented rates, with Southwest Florida among the regions most affected. The fifth annual event builds on last year's discovery of 144 species, including the rare two-striped forktail dragonfly and confirmed river otter activity on campus wetlands.

Mercedes Rasler, a senior biology student at the university, hopes to focus her camera to capture another circling osprey, one of the region's most visible raptors.

"We see a lot of ospreys, a lot of red-shouldered hawks, those are kind of our cool raptors," Rasler reported. "In terms of other species, we've got northern mockingbirds, we've got grackles, blue jays, lots of iconic species, but then also some species that people may not know right away."

This year, participants equipped with the iNaturalist app aim to surpass previous records while contributing to a global database supporting conservation efforts. Anyone, regardless of location, can participate by downloading the app and documenting species in their own area.

Oscar Johnson, assistant professor of ornithology at the university, explained the scientific value of BioBlitz, through its not-so-secret goal of empowering "citizen science" to document biodiversity.

"It's a combination of an event where we can get a lot of people outside and looking at nature, learning about nature, looking at cool bugs, birds, mammals, plants, anything that we can find that's living," Johnson outlined. "Learn about identification, natural history."

The event aligns with similar conservation efforts at other Florida schools and organizations. With ongoing budget constraints and staffing reductions across wildlife agencies, state officials said volunteer-collected data now play an increasingly important role in species monitoring efforts.

Wildlife conservationists are working with landowners and concerned Texans to recover at-risk species.

Currently, more than 1,100 animals from salamanders to mountain lions to birds need protection. Grahame Jones, executive director of the Texas Conservation Alliance, said the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is at the forefront of the work, and added that the agency created a comprehensive program to save the near threatened Guadalupe bass "through stockings in different rivers and creeks, restoration projects in watersheds and rivers, and then the management of invasive plants and how that might affect the rivers. And then also bringing in the public to help them."

The department is updating its Wildlife Action Plan that helps manage and conserve various species to keep them off the threatened and endangered lists. A survey is on the department's website.

The Parks and Wildlife Department is also working to save the threatened Texas horned lizard, or horny toad. John DeFillipo, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, said the agency is partnering with landowners to help repopulate the reptile.

"So, they will release these small horny toads on their property and also the work, which is unique on the horny toads, they coordinated with zoos across the state, and they raised them and released about 1,000 hatchlings," he said. "And then these hatchlings, since they're so young, they're able to produce in the wild."

Jones added that it's easier to keep population numbers up than it is try to recover a species.

"Once they get on a threatened list or endangered species list, the rules change and it's more expensive and there's all sorts of caveats and issues that come up," he said."So the goal is to keep these species off those lists."

Wyoming's practice of feeding elk over winters is a century old but the spread of disease has increased concerns. Now, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition is rolling out a new solution.

The group launched a voluntary program in 2019, incentivizing ranchers who live near elk feedgrounds to ship their cattle elsewhere during winters, allowing elk to roam on their native winter range instead.

It keeps cattle and elk from commingling, which can lead to the spread of dangerous diseases such as brucellosis and Chronic Wasting Disease.

Teddy Collins, Wyoming conservation associate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said the program is beneficial to the elk and cattle ranchers.

"It is very timely to have these agreements as a tool in the toolbox for state wildlife officials to try and move away from this process that has been around for a hundred years, but has negative repercussions," Collins emphasized.

Collins noted Chronic Wasting Disease was detected in four of the state's 21 feedgrounds this winter. A rancher in Lincoln County signed on in the fall, adding to the two agreements Teton County ranchers have signed since 2019.

The agreements are tailored to each rancher. Generally, cattle leave the property for more temperate areas of Wyoming or Utah from around Dec. 1 to April 1. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition shares associated costs with producers.

"These are voluntary agreements and they are incentive-based," Collins explained. "Each agreement is unique to the needs and the topography and the business of the individual producer."

Producers are, he added, "quite satisfied" with the program so far.


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