Berkshire Wildlife Trackers

What Is Berkshire Wildlife Trackers(BWT)?

Photos of some events

How are BWT wildlife monitors trained?

How does BWT fit into the
large land protection picture?

What's happening now?

What's next?

Application
(to be trained as a wildlife monitor)

Other Keeping Track group & connections

2007 Event

2006 Event

What Is Berkshire Wildlife Trackers?

Berkshire Wildlife Trackers (BWT) is a group of volunteers who are trained to look for track and sign of wildlife to see where and how different species are using different habitats in and around the Berkshires. BWT is hosted by Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC - the countywide land trust in the Berkshires).

BEAT and BNRC contract with Keeping Track® to provide an enthralling and intensive training for BWT volunteers to learn to read and document animal sign. We have had two groups of BWT volunteers complete this training in 2007 and 2008. We are now seeking volunteers for a class to run from September 2010 to May 2011.

The training includes six full-day training workshops in the field plus two classroom sessions. Most of the training is done on weekends, and the training is spread out over a year so that trainees have experience in all seasons. (check out the 2008 schedule)

Now trained, these volunteers have formed small teams and are taking to the woods to gather data on focal mammal species' use of habitat in and around Berkshire County.

Our host organization, Berkshire Environmental Action Team will maintain a database of all this data and share it with scientists, educators, and land protection organizations to help protect wildlife species and important wildlife habitat and linkages in and around Berkshire County.

If you are interested in joining BWT please explore this site for more information.

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How are volunteers trained?

We contract with Keeping Track® to provide enthralling and intensive training for Berkshire Wildlife Trackers (BWT). The Keeping Track® program is run by nationally recognized naturalist, habitat identification specialist, and photographer Sue Morse.

The trainees will be taught a scientifically-based data collection methodology so that they can prepare track and sign surveys.

Training will include: detection and interpretation of tracks and signs of agreed upon focal species for the Berkshires, conservation biology and how it relates to data collection and land protection, forest ecology and plant identification and what it tells us about how Berkshire species use local habitat, 'search imaging' (Sue Morse's technique for predictably looking in the right places and finding wildlife signs), and an introduction to science-based field studies. The Keeping Track Project and Data Management Protocol will provide standards for data collection. The database will be maintained Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT).

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Permanently protected land in and around Berkshire County

How does BWT fit into the large land protection picture?

Berkshire Environmental Action Team is working with Berkshire Natural Resources Council and many partner organizations to look at existing and potential linkages among large protected areas in and around the Berkshires as well as looking at where the greatest threat of development disrupting those existing linkages.

We are also looking a where our transportation network intersects those linkages with an eye to decreasing the impact of our road network on ecosystem connectivity.

BEAT is part of the Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership, Teaming With Wildlife, and the TransWild Alliance.

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What's happening now?

BWT has teams monitoring transects in and around the Berkshires. We are working with BEAT and BNRC to look at linkages among our already protected landscapes. Some of us have monitored a property slated for development to see how and where wildlife are currently using the property. We then provided this information to the planners to help them make informed decisions for the future of the property.

We are now beginning to look for volunteers to form a third group of 18 to be trained for BWT. Training will start in October 2010.

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What's next?

We anticipate accepting applications for our third group of monitors to start training in the fall of 2010. Would you like to take action to ensure that wildlife always has a place in and around the Berkshires? If so, please consider helping out with this program.

If you would like to be trained to be a Berkshire Wildlife Tracker, here are a few things to consider:

• To complete the training you must be able to be outside in the cold and snow all day.
• You must be able to hike up and down uneven terrain - the groups moves very slowly, looking at track and sign, so the pace is not strenuous.
• You will be asked to commit to approximately one weekend day per month for training, and about the same for monitoring for at least two years.
• You will be asked to pay part of the cost of training. If you cannot afford the entire amount, are you willing to help raise the money?

Have questions? - Please, first take a look at the Keeping Track® website for more information about the training.

Still interested? - Then please contact the BWT coordinator.

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