This moose was spotted in the water by Carrie Miller, a volunteer who drove the Fox
Park/Rob Roy route in the Snowy Range. This year’s Summer Moose Day, held July 16,
resulted in the spotting of 15 adult moose and one calf in the Pole Mountain area,
Snowy Range and near Arlington. The UW Biodiversity Institute sponsored the event.
(Carrie Miller Photo)
For the seventh year, community scientists helped identify moose populations in the
mountains outside of Laramie for Summer Moose Day. And the numbers were comparable
to previous summer counts.
Thirty volunteers ventured out in Albany County July 16, covering five routes in the
Pole Mountain area, six routes in the Snowy Range and one near Arlington. The University
of Wyoming’s Biodiversity Institute sponsored the event.
“Surveyors saw 16 moose: 10 males, five females and one calf,” says Mason Lee, senior
project coordinator of the UW Biodiversity Institute. “This number seems about comparable
to previous Summer Moose Days, although there is certainly variation between years.
On average, throughout the previous years, males are the most commonly observed. Signs
of moose -- such as scat and tracks -- also were observed. Because of heavy rains
in parts of the survey areas, it was difficult to tell if the scat was fresh or old.”
The 16 moose spotted match the number found in summer 2016.
In a change from previous Moose Days -- where each route was only surveyed by one
group -- a few of the routes were covered by more than one survey group.
“This change was requested by the Moose Day researcher, as this will allow for data
to be collected to see how good people are at detecting signs of moose,” Lee says.
The community scientists hiked or drove designated routes between dawn and midmorning.
They recorded observations of moose or their signs, which include tracks/hoofprints,
bed areas, scat droppings and browse on aspen and willows.
These volunteer observations were loaded into iNaturalist so the public can view right away where moose were seen. INaturalist is a joint initiative
of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Postings
from the current season can be found at www.inaturalist.org/projects/summer-moose-day.
These two moose were spotted in the Sand Lake area of the Snowy Range as part of the
UW Biodiversity Institute’s Summer Moose Day. (Dennis Saville Photo)
The data gathered from Summer Moose Day are shared with biologists at UW. These biologists
use the data collected by community scientists to further their understanding of the
population densities of local moose, their reproductive rates, summer habitat quality,
their winter ranges and how these variables change over time.
More will be learned after Dave Christianson, an associate professor in the UW Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, and his graduate students analyze the Summer Moose Day data as well as external
factors that can affect moose counts, Lee says.
Both summer and winter Moose Day events are geared toward increasing the public’s
understanding of moose in the Laramie area and involving the public in asking and
answering questions. These events are an extension of the original program, Moose
Day, held by Nature Mapping Jackson Hole (NMJH) in Jackson each winter. NMJH is a
citizen science program created by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.
The UW Biodiversity Institute fosters conservation of biodiversity through scientific
discovery, creative dissemination, education and public engagement. In this setting,
scientists, citizens, students and educators come together to share a wealth of perspectives
on the study and appreciation of biodiversity -- from microbes to poetry and ecosystems
to economics. Learn more at www.wyomingbiodiversity.org.
