Snapshot Wisconsin September News

Science Update

Our science update this month is about fisher distribution in Wisconsin. This update was inspired by recent comments on our Snapshot Wisconsin talk board on a photo of a fisher from central Wisconsin. The volunteers were confused because the current range map for fisher shows them only located in the very northern edge of the state. One thing we want to do with Snapshot Wisconsin data is to make updated distribution maps for species in the state. Static distribution maps go out of date when species expand their ranges. This is especially true in the case of a species like fisher, which was reintroduced to Wisconsin in the 1950's and expanded its range quickly.

So far, we’ve seen fishers on Snapshot Wisconsin cameras in counties pretty far south as shown in the image below. 

Note that the below map shows counties where we’ve seen Snapshot Wisconsin photos correctly classified as fisher. Many of the gray counties do not have any Snapshot Wisconsin cameras and so we do not have any photos there yet. This is not to say there are no fishers in the gray counties!

Annual Report - 2017

Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who make this project possible! We wanted to share a few stats from our recently submitted FY2017 Annual Report to let you all know how much we have grown during the last fiscal year (July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2017).  Counties Opened: 16 (Clark, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Iron, Jackson, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Oneida, Racine, Rusk, St. Croix, Taylor, Vernon and Waupaca) New Volunteers: 504 Cameras Deployed: 438 Number of In person training Sessions: 31 Camera Checks: 3,021 Photos Uploaded: 9,254,472 Seasons on Zooniverse: 3 Photos Classified by Snapshot Wisconsin volunteers on Zooniverse: 100,674 Gray Fox captured on a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera in Waupaca County last November.

Announcements - Bugle Days Event

Snapshot Wisconsin will be attending Bugle Days in Clam Lake this year. Bugle Days is an annual event by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Wisconsin chapter that celebrates Elk and RMEF volunteers in Wisconsin. We will be presenting on Friday night and Saturday night about the elk monitoring project and also recognizing volunteers who have been with the project for at least a year. During the day on Saturday, Susan will be leading a field trip to a couple of different camera sites and recruiting new volunteers. If you are interested in participating in the project please let us know - we need more volunteers in each location: Clam Lake, Flambeau River State Forest and Black River Falls. Send an email to DNRSnapshotWisconsin@Wisconsin.gov with the subject line "Elk Monitoring".

Zooniverse Updates - Help us finish Season 5

Season 5 on Zooniverse is still ongoing - please stop by and help classify photos. If everyone receiving this message classified an average of 50 photos we could finish up the current season!   We have some changes in store for Season 6 to hopefully make future seasons shorter which will help us meet our goal of having timely data available for wildlife management decision making. Collared Gray Wolf captured on a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera in Sawyer County in May 2016.

Trail Camera Hosts - Sign Up Now!

We are always accepting applicants from all of our open counties but currently we are hoping to receive additional applicants from the following counties: Marathon, Marinette, Racine, St Croix, Taylor, Vernon, Waupaca and Rusk counties. We have a few volunteers in each of these counties waiting for an in person training session. We need more volunteers to signup before we can plan a training session for these counties. Please visit our signup page to apply today to participate in Snapshot Wisconsin as a trail camera host. Accepted volunteers who want to get started right away can opt for online training.   Great Blue Heron captured on a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera in Manitowoc County on July 21, 2017.

September Training Opportunity - Grant County

The next Snapshot Wisconsin training opportunity for accepted volunteers is September 13 at the library in Platteville. If you have applied to host a camera in Grant County (or a nearby open county) please check your email for an invitation to this training session. If you live in Grant County and haven't applied yet please apply today and followup by sending an email to DNRSnapshotWisconsin@wisconsin.gov so we can review your application right away.   White deer captured on a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera in Grant County on April 4, 2017.

Spotlight Photo of the Month

We will share one awesome animal photo each month. To enter one of your favorites from a Snapshot Wisconsin camera please send the image as a jpeg attachment with the animal classification, county location and date taken along with the reason why you love the image to DNRSnapshotWisconsin@wisconsin.gov.  

This month's image of a bear enjoying a back scratch was captured on a Snapshot Wisconsin camera in Marinette County in early July. Look for more of this sequence coming up on a Snapshot Saturdays post on the WDNR Facebook page in the near future!

Contact Information for Snapshot Wisconsin

     Email:DNRSnapshotWisconsin@wisconsin.gov

     Phone: 608-572-6103

     Signup to Host a Trail Camera: www.SnapshotWISignup.org

     Participate on Zooniverse: www.SnapshotWisconsin.org

     Find out more details on our webpage: 

              dnr.wi.gov Keyword "Snapshot Wisconsin        

Thank you to our project partners!