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Post date: Feb 05, 2019 7:49:29 PM
**Due to heavy snow forecast the weekend of March 10, we have canceled our Winter survey**
The Cloquet Forestry Center is hosting its second winter wildlife tracking survey in cooperation with the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project and the University of Minnesota Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Club. Short term goals for this project include assessing what animals are using the forest and providing a learning experience for Cloquet Forestry Center management staff and University students. Long term goals include monitoring trends in mammal diversity and abundance with possible links to forest management and climate change.
To register, use our contact form, or email Jonathan Poppele <poppele@umn.edu>
The survey will be an all day affair. We plan to divide into teams and survey the snowpacked roads for track and sign, then come back in to share our discoveries with one another. Each team will be led by an experienced wildlife tracker, certified in Track & Sign identification. Here is the schedule for the day:
9:30 Gathering in the Stine room
10:00 Shuttle to survey routes and begin tracking
12:00 Lunch break in the field
12:30 Second survey route
2:30 Return to the Stine room to share the story of the day
4:00 Complete and head home
Registration
Advanced registration is required. To ease our planning, please register no later than Wednesday, March 6.
To register, use our contact form, or email Jonathan Poppele <poppele@umn.edu>
iNaturalist
We use iNaturalist as a tool for recording and sharing our observations. It is the primary way we document what we find and report our results to researchers at the Cloquet Forestry Center. You can view sightings from our past surveys here on iNaturalist. Not everyone needs to record observations in iNaturalist, but there should be enough people in each group logging observations that all of the groups findings get reported. To add observations to our project, you will need an iNaturalist account, and be a member of the Cloquet Forestry Center Wildlife Tracking iNaturalist project. If you don't have an iNaturalist account, begin by signing up using this link.
Once you have signed up, you can join the Cloquet Forestry Center Wildlife Tracking project and add observations. You may also be interested in joining the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project and the North American Animal Tracking Database and adding your tracking observations to these as well.
About Cloquet Forestry Center
The Cloquet Forestry Center, located 135 miles north of the Twin Cities, has been the primary research and education forest for the University of Minnesota for over a century. Located in the Lake Superior watershed in northeastern Minnesota, this 2,662 acre experimental forest is home to researchers, practitioners, students, and members of the public who are interested in forest ecosystems and their sustainable management. The Center sits inside the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation and partners with the tribe on forest management and educational programming. It's northern Minnesota biome is home to a diversity of wildlife including moose, wolves, bears, lynx, bobcats, porcupines, pine martins, hares, goshawks, deer, and ruffed grouse.
Get more information about the Center here.
Overnight Accommodations
The Cloquet Forestry Center has offered housing in the on-campus bunkhouse the night before the survey at a very reasonable price. Spaces are available for $12 per person. The bunkhouse also has a kitchen, and can accommodate up to 17 people between two large, shared bunk rooms.
We need to make housing reservations no later than Wednesday, March 6. If you would like housing for Saturday night, please let Jonathan Poppele know when you register, and please register before the Mar 6 deadline.
If you would like private accommodations, or would like to rent a room for Sunday night after the survey, these are two of the closest and least expensive options:
Super 8 Cloquet 121 Big Lake Rd, Cloquet, MN 55720
Americc Inn, Carlton 1308 MN-33, Cloquet, MN 55720
Carpooling
Cloquet Forestry Center is about a two hour drive from the Twin Cities. You can coordinate carpools using this GroupCarpool.com webpage.
Cross Country Skiing Nearby
Extensive networks of cross country ski trails are available in Fond du Lac State Forest and Jay Cooke State Park, just 10-15 miles from the Cloquet Forestry Center. You can get more information, and perhaps some information about trail conditions, from the Skinny Ski website:
Address, Map & Directions
Cloquet Forestry Center
175 University Road, Cloquet, MN 55720
For a map & directions to Cloquet Forestry Center, click here
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