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Keeping it Current: Avenues for Staff Development
Get PDFWhether you are providing staff training in preparation for new library initiatives, or just trying to keep up with current programs and technology, staff development is an integral part of maintaining a progressive and prepared library. The multitude of means for delivering staff development have also made it easier to overcome various time, space, or technology restrictions to making it a regular part of library work. However, regardless of how deliverable staff trainings may be, in our busy lives it still takes time to make a plan for staff development. This article outlines a method for making such a plan for your own library and examines case study examples from Central Washington University. Before creating your master plan for staff development at your own institution, make sure you have the approval of your library administration at an early stage. Getting buyin from administration is extremely important for supporting staff development and assessing its feasibility. Bringing in an expensive workshop facilitator or sending staff and faculty to conferences can be a serious fiscal undertaking. However, staff development doesn’t always need to be a pricey burden and this article will include examples of staff development activities that do not require bringing in experts
Beyond the Region: New York City
Get PDFThis is a series of regular columns in PNLA Quarterly focused on ideas or travel outside the PNLA region
Good Animals in Bad Places: Evaluating Landscape Attributes Associated with Elk Vulnerability to Wolf Predation
Get PDFVulnerability of prey to predators is heavily influenced by their respective physical and behavioral characteristics; however their interactions with landscape, and climate, collectively termed “environmental vulnerability,” may also assume considerable importance. Little is known about the impact of environmental vulnerability in large mammal systems, where post-encounter vulnerability may assume more importance than encounter probability. This study utilized 18 years of survival and mortality data for radio-collared elk (Cervus elaphus), in concert with abundance, distribution, and habitat use data prior to and following restoration of wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park to evaluate the relationship between environmental attributes and elk mortality. We modeled the odds of mortality for 108 elk in 1257 animal sample intervals from 1991-2009 across a range of environmental conditions and gradients of wolf predation risk to evaluate: 1) The relationship between landscape, habitat, and environmental attributes and elk vulnerability to wolf predation and 2) Changes in the attributes related to elk mortality before and after wolf colonization. In the absence of wolf predation, mortality risk for elk was primarily associated with physical attributes of elk known to influence starvation mortality. Following wolf reintroduction mortality risk was more strongly associated with characteristics of the landscape and climate within an animal’s home range. These environmental influences resulted in substantial changes in distribution and abundance of elk in the study system and suggests environmental heterogeneity may have an important influence on wolf and elk distributions and dynamics
Moving Wildlife Under US Highway 93 in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley through Wildlife Crossing Structures
Get PDFThe impediment that the Bitterroot Valley’s roads and vehicle traffic pose for wildlife movement can be partially mitigated with wildlife crossing structures. This study evaluates 18 wildlife crossing structures installed by Montana Department of Transportation along US Highway 93, south of Missoula. Through the use of camera traps, this ongoing study evaluates the efficacy of these crossing in allowing wildlife to move safely under the road, and in reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions between the communities of Lolo and Hamilton. Photographic data on white-tailed deer use were analyzed for success rate and rate of repellence. Use of structures by other species of wildlife was also analyzed. In three years of post-construction monitoring, success rates ranged from zero to two white tailed-deer passes per day. Carnivores were photographed using crossings and moving over the highway at grade. At this time, bridge structures have a higher success at passing white-tail deer that approach them than culverts, except for a large (6 m wide and high) steel culvert, which worked as well as bridges. Fencing to crossings is important: bridges without wildlife fencing had success rates well under 0.2 deer passes per day. At this time overall trends appear to suggest that: wildlife fencing, more vegetation at the ends of structures, and wider structures result in higher success rates for white-tailed deer. When the study is completed in 2015 we will have a better understanding of the structure and landscape variables important to facilitate wildlife use of wildlife crossing structures
Spatial Search and Efficiency Rates as Components of Wolf Predation Risk
Get PDFAnthropogenic linear features are hypothesized to increase wolf (Canis lupus) predation risk for a threatened ungulate, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Previous research has shown that these features are selected by wolves while searching for prey, but their effect on the net efficiency of predation, measured in kills per day, has not been addressed. We use resource selection and proportional hazards modeling to assess the spatial drivers of both search and efficiency rates of wolf predation in a multi-prey system. Topographic variation consistently affected wolf search rates and the predation efficiency of wolves while searching. However, the effects of anthropogenic footprint upon the total predation risk imposed by wolves were mediated solely by changes to wolf search rate; wolf predation efficiency generally did not change with proximity to anthropogenic linear features as previously hypothesized. Predicted models of the cumulative hazard encountered by wolves validated well with among-pack variation in kill rates, suggesting that spatial hazard models allow the scaling up of local heterogeneity to population-level dynamics. Lastly, we estimated an integrated spatial model of relative predation risk as the product of both search and efficiency rates, which captured the distinct contributions of spatial heterogeneity to each component of risk
Using Remote Camera Technology to Survey Sharp-Tailed Grouse Leks in Montana
Get PDFSome of the biggest challenges in conducting lek surveys for sharp-tailed grouse in Montana are weather-related road access, distance between leks, visibility, and determining the maximum number of males and females at the lek. The optimum time to survey peak dancing displays on leks is during the first few hours of morning daylight in April. Surveys are traditionally conducted by biologists with binoculars or scopes in vehicles racing between distant leks to count sharptails before the dancing stops for the day. Vehicular access to private land, snowstorms, muddy roads, and difficult hiking create problems in reaching leks during the peak mating season, and thus limit the efficacy and scope of sharp-tailed grouse surveys. Biologists have used aircraft to locate new sharp-tailed grouse leks but this method is costly and not commonly employed. The authors found no reports of remote cameras being used to count sharp-tailed grouse on leks. The objective of this study was to determine if remote cameras would be an accurate and cost-effective tool to survey sharp-tailed grouse leks. The resulting camera images recorded more birds at a lek than ocular estimates or flushing counts yielded. Additionally, the cameras worked well in all types of weather conditions, were low maintenance, reduced human disturbance to leks, and were cost-effective. Incidental data collected included visitation to leks by predators, length of lek abandonment post-disturbance, and effects of weather conditions on dancing
Historic Distribution and Abundance of Bison in the Rocky Mountains of the United States
Get PDFScant public awareness of the early distribution and abundance of bison (Bison bison) in the Rocky Mountains of the United States inhibits discussion of possible restoration of wild bison. A review of written evidence, largely from 1805-1845, indicates bison were widely distributed in intermountain valleys, with a major regional concentration spanning parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. However, several interacting factors caused large spatial and temporal variation in bison abundance. Native American predation was likely a major influence on bison distribution and abundance during and shortly before 1805-1845. The area where bison were observed by early explorers underestimates the area where restoring productive herds of wild bison is possible
Ecological Model for Seral Stage Classification and Monitoring within a Greasewood/Western Wheatgrass-Blue Grama Ecological Type
Get PDFA multivariate statistical model was developed to classify seral stages and to monitor vegetation within a greasewood-western wheatgrass-blue grama (Sarcobatus vermiculatus/Pascopyrum smithii-Bouteloua gracilis) ecological type. Two key plant species, greasewood and western wheatgrass, provide the required information for the model to classify seral stages and monitor trends based on index values of both plants (canopy cover (%) and frequency of occurrence (%)). Three seral stages were quantitatively identified. Classification had an overall accuracy of 94% and all seral stages were significantly different (P < 0.05). Three seral stages (late, intermediate and early) provide resource managers quantitative options to evaluate alternatives and objectives associated with steady states and transitions between and among seral stages. Application of this model within the greasewood ecological type is simple to apply, repeatable, accurate and cost effective for field applications
Effectiveness of Trail Cameras and Scat Genetics for Detecting Northern Bog Lemmings in Western Montana
Get PDFThe northern bog lemming (Synaptomys borealis) is a boreal species that extends south into Washington, Idaho, and Montana in the west. Little is known about this rare species in Montana, in part due to the difficulty of catching it using standard small mammal trapping methods. Prior surveys with Sherman live traps resulted in low trapping success and high mortality rates for northern bog lemmings. This species is currently being evaluated for ESA listing, so better methods for detecting them are needed. We tested scat boards and Bushnell NatureView trail cameras with close-up lenses to determine their effectiveness for detecting northern bog lemmings. Cameras were pointed at scat boards baited with muskrat lure. In 2015 we surveyed seven wetland sites, five of which were known northern bog lemming sites, for 3- 8 nights each with 5-10 cameras per site. Camera-nights at each site ranged from 15 to 38, and totaled 188 camera-nights overall. We obtained definitive and probable detections of northern bog lemmings (n=8) at three sites for a detection rate of 4.25 detections per 100 camera-nights. Twenty scat samples collected from scat boards, runways, and latrine sites were submitted to the National Genomics Laboratory for Wildlife and Fish Conservation at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula. Genetic testing is in progress to determine species identification (results will be presented, if available). Trail cameras are easy to deploy and less labor-intensive than live trapping for detecting small mammal species that can be identified from photographs. Efficiency may be improved by finding better lures, but overall, species identification through genetic analysis of scat would be the most cost effective way to survey northern bog lemmings, if it is proven to work
Occupancy and Abundance of American Badgers and Piute Ground Squirrels in the Sagebrush-Steppe: Implications of the Fire-Cheatgrass Cycle
Get PDFSagebrush-steppe is experiencing vast changes due to biological invasions and changing fire characteristics. Understanding how these changes influence functionally important animals is essential for ecosystem management. American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) are an apex predator and ecosystem engineer within sagebrush ecosystems. Piute Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus mollis) are also an ecosystem engineer as well as an essential prey source for many predators. Our objective was to evaluate the relative importance of large-scale changes, abiotic processes, and biotic processes on badgers and ground squirrels. We samples 163 1-ha plots across a gradient of burn histories within a 1,962 km2 area in Southern Idaho, USA. At each plot, we characterized ground squirrel and badger occupancy, ground squirrel relative abundance, and many environmental variables. We used information-theoretic approaches to evaluate competing hypotheses concerning occupancy of ground squirrels and badgers, and ground squirrel relative abundance. Results suggest that ground squirrel occupancy was positively associated with abiotic characteristics (e.g., higher precipitation and finer textured soil). Badger occupancy was positively associated with ground squirrel occupancy and agriculture. Relative abundance of ground squirrels was positively associated with finer textured soils, but negatively associated with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), fire frequency, agriculture and shrubs. Managers can focus restoration efforts on areas with high cheatgrass and shrub cover, if ground squirrels are a management objective. These results support previous hypotheses suggesting abiotic processes are important for herbivore occupancy. However, we provide support that a combination of abiotic, biotic and disturbance processes are important for mesocarnivore occupancy and herbivore abundance