North Carolina’s Candid Critters: A Statewide Camera Trap Survey in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Summary of proposed field methods and activities: Methodology This project will engage citizen scientist to run camera traps, code images, and upload data that can be used to address our research objectives. This section describes our study design and analysis plan for the three wildlife objectives, training and recruitment of volunteers, and data management. Fawn/Doe Ratios Our survey design will involve working with citizen scientists at 2-3 counties per deer management unit to set camera traps at 70-100 sites per county during the ~1 month period when 90% of fawns are at least 14-18 weeks old. Each camera will be set for 2 weeks and then moved to a new site for the second 2-week period. Cameras will be attached to trees at roughly knee height. Fawning dates and harvest seasons vary across the state; therefore, the exact survey timing will vary by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission Biological Deer Management Unit (BDMU) a given county falls into. Camera sites within each county will be stratified between 3 major habitat types (forest, open, developed) in the proportions that those habitat types make up the county to ensure that the estimate is representative of the county as a whole. Open sites (e.g. agriculture fields) will be sampled along their edge due to the logistics of setting cameras on trees. If trees, posts, or any acceptable structures are available in open areas, we will opportunistically set cameras on them instead of on the edges. Occupancy of coyotes and other species Cameras from all seasons will be used to quantify the distribution and estimate county-wide occupancy rates that can be compared across the state using occupancy models. Our survey design will target setting 28 cameras in each county in three biological season (Spring (Mar-May), Summer (Jun, July, Aug), Winter (Dec, Jan, Feb)). Camera sites will be stratified equally within different habitat types and spaced a minimum of 200m apart. Cameras will be affixed to trees at roughly knee height and run for 3-4 weeks at a site and then moved to a new site. Cameras sites will be chosen randomly within each stratification level, to the extent possible with volunteers. We will not collect any specimens. We try not to modify any of the vegetation at a camera site, but occasionally need to trim some greenery away from the 2m area immediately in front of a camera with garden sheers to give it an unobstructed view.

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