Western States Wolverine Conservation Project Baseline Survey Standard Operating Procedures for Camera–DNA Stations

Western States Wolverine Conservation Project Baseline Survey 
Standard Operating Procedures for Camera–DNA Stations 

- Western States Wolverine Working Group 
Version 4 

December 31, 2018 

INTRODUCTION

This document provides the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for deploying and maintaining baited camera stations for coordinated multi-state wolverine sampling within suitable habitat across Washington (WA), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT), and Wyoming (WY). The objective of this project is to establish a baseline of wolverine occurrence (probability of occupancy) across the 4-state area from which to assess future changes in occupancy that might be due to the influences of conservation actions, environmental change, or anthropogenic disturbance. 

Sampling will occur within a spatially balanced random selection of 15 km x 15 km grid cells resulting from a Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) sampling procedure which ranked each cell (Stevens and Olsen 2004). At a minimum, 180 cells (ranks 1–180) will be sampled for this project, with approximately 26 grid cells in WA, 60 in ID, 46 in MT, and 48 in WY. 

By providing detailed protocols we aim to ensure that field methods and results are consistent in all 4 states and across 2 consecutive winters and that we will generate a statistically reliable dataset with minimum ‘noise’. The main elements of these SOPs were developed at a workshop for wolverine coordinated multi-state sampling held July 8 & 9, 2015, in Salmon, ID. 

Other forest carnivores will be incidentally detected by this survey. Mustelids (fisher, marten) readily climb for bait similar to wolverines. Lynx respond to different attractants. To increase the likelihood of detecting a lynx along with fisher and marten, we added components to the station design specific to lynx. No adjustments to where stations are located were made to accommodate these other forest carnivores. 

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