Guess What? The Patagonia Mountains are Alive: Tracking Wildlife in the Patagonia Mountains.
By Cliff Hirsch
Tracking Workshop participants.
photo ©Tim Cook
Did you know that the Patagonia Mountains are the home to Coati, Grey Fox, Rabbit, Deer, Skunk, Puma, Bobcat, Ringtail cats, Black Bear, Coyote, Turkey, Cottontail, Javelina and the elusive Jaguar and Ocelot?
This April, I had the privilege of attending a 4 day Wildlife Tracking Workshop in the Patagonia Mountains. The Workshop was hosted by the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and run by the extremely talented and knowledgeable staff of Sky Island Alliance, Jessica Lamberton-Moreno and Sergio Avila. There were 28 attendees from the Patagonia area, Tucson, Sells, Yuma and New Mexico. The workshop taught us the techniques for identifying Wildlife tracks, locating tracks, measuring tracks and gaits, and determining what animal had left that track. The workshop was held in Corral Canyon with side trips throughout the Patagonia Mountains. We found and identified tracks of most the mammals listed above. When no tracks could be found we learned to look for other signs of mammals such as scat (the bear does s… in the woods), scratches on tree trunks and kill remains. Also included in the workshop: GPS setup and use, Map reading, plaster casting of tracks and techniques for setup and monitoring remote wildlife cameras.
Lunch time at the campsite consisted of great food and guest speakers: Rod Mondt, one of the founders of Sky Island Alliance who spoke on environmental advocacy; George Farmer, owner of Axle Canyon Preserve in New Mexico; and Wendy Russell, member of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, who explained the plight of the Patagonia Mountains due to renewed interest for mineral extraction.
Each evening around the campfire, PowerPoint presentations were shown on the van” movie screen”, thanks to one of the attendee’s generator.
All the attendees received Certificates of Completion and were invited to become part of the Madrean Archipelago Biological Assessment Team which is compiling a database of all mammals in the region. In order to be part of the Assessment Team we were taught proper track measuring, photography and documentation procedures and techniques.
I recommend the Sky Island Wildlife Tracking Workshop to anyone interested in life in the Mountains. The workshops are held each spring and fall. The Fall Workshop this year is at the Cobra Ranch in Aravaipa Canyon, September 26-29, 2013. The Sky Island folks loved the Patagonia Mountains so much they said they would be back to do it again.
