# Raising funds for camera trap research



## WildlifeScience (Dec 13, 2013)

I work at the University of Utah, and I have an undergraduate student who is interested in wildlife management. We are trying to raise some funds so he can gain experience in wildlife management. Check out the link below to learn about his very interesting project. Send me a message if you have any questions. Every dollar will help Blake towards his goal&#8230;:grin:

https://www.microryza.com/projects/using-camera-traps-to-estimate-abundance-of-large-mammals


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Welcome to the UWN and good luck to your student.


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

I was with you until I read this:

The security lock is essential to prevent theft, particularly from the illegal hunters that have been documented in Red Butte Canyon. 

This statement is not needed to accomplish your point and tends to paint hunters in an unfavorable light. You do know this is a HUNTING, fishing, and outdoors, with heavy emphasis on the hunting, website/forum. Quite frankly hunters carry the lions share of the wildlife conservation bill in this state and many others. Maybe I'm reading to much into this but it bothers me that you would go out of your way to identify hunters with criminal activity when your on here trying to get money from us.


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Trespassers are a real and relevant concern in Red Butte and a few other areas along the Front. He's worried about possibly losing a couple donated trail cams. I'm worried about losing access to the public lands adjoining those areas.

But I had to chuckle at the idea of Red Butte being "pristine". City folk. :hippie:


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## WildlifeScience (Dec 13, 2013)

@USMARINEhuntinfool, Thank you for your comment. I just changed the text on our site from "hunters" to "trespassers". It was not my intention to paint hunters in an unfavorable light and I agree with you, hunters carry the lion's share of the wildlife conservation bill. I am a hunter and conservationist, and I think for many of us these go hand and hand. Conservation is all about maintaining a resource (wildlife) so we can use it (hunting).

My comment was really just to justify to people why we need to spend money on a security lock. Unfortunately we do have poachers in this protected area, and the reality is that we do have equipment stolen regularly. Just to clarify, this project will hopefully give my student the opportunity to learn the science behind effective wildlife management, a career that he is interested in. Thanks again for your feedback.


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## WildlifeScience (Dec 13, 2013)

@Finnegan, I understand your concern about losing access to public lands adjoining Red Butte, but I can can assure you that this is definitely not on our agenda, nor would we have any input at all in the management of these lands, including Red Butte itself. The project is only about providing experience and training for students for future careers in wildlife management.

The definition of pristine is "in it's original condition; unspoiled". Red Butte has been a protected watershed for over 150 years, and has experienced limited human activity. Most important, high impact activity such as logging, mining and vehicle use has been essentially absent. Pristine has a different meaning than "wild" or "wilderness". Based on available data, I stand by my use of the word pristine. While I live in a city today, I was born and raised in the country ;-)


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

Thanks for addressing it. I can understand what you mean, I have seen hunters trespass into the refuge there. I have also seen non-hunters do it as well. Sad that we have to worry about stuff like that. Good luck in your efforts, I imagine we would all be curious to follow his research, would that be a possibility?


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## WildlifeScience (Dec 13, 2013)

Great question. A big part of our work is communicating with the public, so I am happy to make it possible to follow his work. To be honest, the easiest way to follow his work would be to donate to the project. This will provide him with your email address and he will be sending regular updates to this group. I completely understand that you may not want to donate, but keep in mind that you could also donate $1 or less just to have your email on his list.

You can also send me a private message on here with your email address and we can send you updates along with the rest of our supporters.


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