Roadkill app

Paula Coughlin, Citizen Science Coordinator at our Grassland Bird Conservation Center at Pomfret, sent me the following on a great new phone app for conservation and wildlife.

How can roadkill data inform us about local wildlife? What species are found more often as the result of traffic? Are there certain locations that are more hazardous to wildlife? Where are the amphibian migratory routes?

In October of 2012, 12 members of the Citizen Science Volunteer Mammal Monitoring Program at the CAS Center at Pomfret, attended the annual Northeast Wildlife Trackers Conference in Leominster, MA. Danielle Garneau Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at SUNY Plattsburgh, was one of several wildlife scientists and trackers that gave presentations highlighting cutting edge wildlife research.

Dr. Garneau has developed a citizen science project to monitor roadkill and live animals using the Epicollect smartphone app (RoadkillGarneau and Wildlife BlitzGarneau). Anyone can add information to the database which includes species, location, condition of animal, and photos.

This data could be used for a variety of uses such as education, research, conservation, and public safety. Those without a mobile device can enter data on their computer. Visit the links to see how easy it is to add local data. The more data we have, the more we can learn about wildlife.

To learn more about this project please visit: http://epicollectserver.appspot.com/project.html?name=RoadkillGarneau

To upload data without a smartphone please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/daniellegarneau/home/smartphone-apps-for-wildlife-observations


Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician