Program areas at Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation
Nature mapping Jackson Hole program: a citizen science program with the goals of: 1)keeping common species common; 2)increasing citizen's knowledge of and appreciation for Wildlife in teton county, Wyoming; 3)engaging citizens in long-term Wildlife data collection; 4)informing management decisions that favor Wildlife sustainability; and 5)contributing data to the Wyoming game and fish department's Wildlife observation system to augment state data. Through nature mapping Jackson, we have recorded more than 97,000 Wildlife observations with more than 1000 trained citizen scientists, over the years, since the program was established in 2009. In 2022, we trained 60 citizen scientists through virtual training sessions. We banded 425 individual birds in 2022 at our monitoring avian productivity and survivorship (maps) bird banding stations. Our moose day project included 101 moose observations by 105 volunteers to supplement agency aerial surveys. Also, staff and 15 volunteers monitored 112 nest boxes via the mountain bluebird nestbox monitoring project.
Give Wildlife a brake: utilizing various mitigation tools, we aim to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions on our roadways. These tools include digital message boards, fixed radar speed feedback signs, speed limit reductions, Wildlife crossing structure planning. We also continue to compile the most comprehensive wildlife-vehicle collision report in the county to inform transportation planning and Wildlife conservation efforts. In 2022, we continued our give Wildlife a brake - digital outreach campaign targeting teton county motorists with wildlife-vehicle collision stats and facts. This information is distributed through facebook ads. Additionally, our road ecology expert assisted teton county with the purchase of gates and signs to improve Wildlife mitigation along south highway 89.
Wildlife friendlier fencing program: improving landscape permeability for migrating Wildlife through modification and removal of fences. Through 2022, we have improved more than 230 miles of fences to benefit Wildlife. In 2022, volunteers contributed 870 volunteer hours on 8 projects to improve 6.16 miles of fence. We work with many key agency partners and private landowners through this program.
Bear wise Jackson Hole: is a decades long partnership between Wyoming game and fish department, bridger-teton national forest, grand teton national park, and Jackson Hole Wildlife founation. We are a subsidiary of the bearwise Wyoming program. The goal of the program is to provide resources, outreach and coordination intended to keep bears wild and people safe. To better address the persistence of human-bear conflict in teton county, bearwise Jackson Hole hired a full-time program manager in november 2022. The program manager's primary responsibilities are to coordinate partners-both agency and ngo-who work together to reduce human-bear conflict and to help implement teton county's Wildlife feeding land development regulation-as well as town of Jackson's ordinance-through outreach, connection with individual homeowners and businesses, and hands-on work to secure attractants.