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CAMP RIPLEY, Minn. -- In the winter of 07-08 Camp Ripley became a partner in a study of fishers and martens in the northern area of Minnesota with the goal of gaining insights to the animals demography and habitat.
“Camp Ripley is on the southern edge of what we believe to be the habitat for the fisher and marten,” said Brian Dirks, Department of Natural Resources animal survey coordinator and member of Camp Ripley’s environmental team. “We hope to gain a better understanding of the population of the animals, such as their population density and travel habits.”
The Environmental Team at Camp Ripley has partnered with a few organizations to conduct their portion of the study. One of these organizations is Central Lakes College, Brainerd campus and Dr. William Faber’s, professor of natural resources, Natural Resources Club, said Dirks.
There are several students involved with the study and one of the tasks that has been given to them is checking the live traps that are on Camp Ripley. There are approximately 20 live traps that need to be checked on a daily basis.
“Dr. Faber asked us during one of our meetings who would be interested in helping out with the study,” said Michelle Dickson, a student at Central Lakes College. “I volunteered to be part of it because I felt it would be a good experience and it sounded like a great opportunity.”
The students are listed as volunteers with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and are able to utilize some of the resources that the DNR has at Camp Ripley, said Dirks.
“I am responsible for coming to Camp Ripley every Wed. and checking the live traps,” said Dickson. Each of the live traps is fitted with a radio collar and when the door closes it turns the collar on so we use a receiver to pick up the transition from the collar. If we hear the beep from the collar that means we have to go and see if there is something in there. The reason we don’t visually check each trap is we don’t want to disturb the area if we don’t have to.
While checking the live traps, March 9, Dickson found a few different animals in the traps but no fishers. She discovered that a Red Squirrel and two raccoons had managed to find their way into one of the live traps.
The live traps are baited with various types of meat, such as, fish and venison and they are also scented with either skunk or fish oil and the live trap is covered with a white bag, said Dickson.
“We have been able to trap seven fisher,” said Dirks. “However, we have had some unfortunate luck with a few of them. They have either slipped their collars, had the collar malfunction or lost the fisher to death.”
When a student volunteer discovers that a fisher has be captured in the live trap they report this back to the Environmental Team, Dirks or Nancy Dietz, Camp Ripley Environmental Team, gather the equipment needed to study the animal and collar it for further tracking. The animal is given an injection to put it to sleep, measurements are taken and the animal is fitted with a radio collar, said Dirks.
“Currently, Camp Ripley is tracking four fishers with active radio collars,” said Dirks.
“We will stop trapping around the middle of April because that is the breeding season,” said Dickson.
Camp Ripley is active in several animal studies including Black Bear, Deer, Wolves and several birds.
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2011 09:06 |
| Story ID: | 67526 |
| Location: | CAMP RIPLEY, MINNESOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Camp Ripley part of statewide fisher study, by 1LT Kenneth Toole, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
