Here's something easy you can do that will make a big difference for wildlife conservation in north Idaho: Help MBI obtain access to private lands in order to complete wildlife surveys in all of our grid cells.
You can help by putting us in touch with private landowners who may be willing to allow MBI crews to conduct a wildlife survey on their property. Scroll down below the maps to see what to expect if your property is selected for a survey.
Just follow these easy steps to help us locate landowners:
1) Take a look at the maps below.
2) We need access to private lands to conduct a survey in each of the colored grid cells.
BLUE OUTLINE (WETLAND): We need access to a standing water wetland within this cell (not rivers or streams). The wetlands we know about are shown in blue, but there may be wetlands that don't appear on our maps. We could survey lakes, ponds, and even puddles! We're especially interested in puddles if you know there are frogs or salamanders in them. If you have a puddle with amphibians please hurry to notify us so we can survey it before it dries up!
RED OUTLINE (TERRESTRIAL): We need access to any terrestrial piece of ground in this cell. Any habitat type is okay, including lawns!
ORANGE OUTLINE (BOTH): We need access to both a wetland and a terrestrial piece of ground in these cells.
3) Take note of which grid cell you know a property owner in and provide the grid cell number, your contact information, and the owners contact information. Any of the following will work:
a) Click on this link to fill out a spreadsheet.
c) Contact Leslie Van Niel at (208) 755-3865 or leslie.vanniel@idfg.idaho.gov
If a property is selected for a survey, landowners can expect the following:
WETLAND SURVEY (click to download detailed protocol):
One or two IDFG employees will spend 1-2 hours sweeping the shore of your wetland with a net. Species detected will be recorded and a small tissue sample will be taken from two individuals of each amphibian species found (the amphibians will be released unharmed after the sample is taken).
TERRESTRIAL SURVEY (click to download detailed protocol):
One or two IDFG employees will visit your property two times (with a space of about 2 weeks between visits). The first time they will set up an invertebrate survey transect. This involves digging 3 small holes to put plastic 'pitfall' traps in and laying 3 small pieces of cardboard on the ground. Two weeks later they will come back to collect any invertebrates (mostly beetles, snails, and slugs) which are found in the traps. On the second visit they will collect one quart of leaf litter. During each visit they will spend 15 minutes looking under rocks and logs to collect snails and slugs. All beetles, snails, and slugs will be killed. This is because there are very few people who can identify these species and the samples must be sent off to specialists to be identified.
We can provide property owners with a list of all species found on their land. Identifying the invertebrates will be very labor intensive, so a list of species may not be available for over year.