Hawarden, Iowa — You can help out conservation officials by watching some of Iowa’s spectacular birds’ nests or by listening for frogs and toads this summer. They’ll tell you how to do it at an upcoming training session.
The Iowa DNR says that all across the state of Iowa, citizen scientists are making enormous contributions to wildlife conservation.
The training is through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program.
Program Coordinator Stephanie Shepherd says that the DNR just doesn’t have enough staff to adequately monitor all the vulnerable species that they need to. This is where citizen scientists play a crucial role, she says. Every March and April, Shepherd travels around the state to lead training workshops that ready folks to collect data on some of Iowa’s critical wildlife.
One training workshop focuses on some of Iowa’s more spectacular bird species such as bald eagles, ospreys, and peregrine falcons. Volunteers are taught how to collect data on specific nesting sites around the state and submit pertinent data such as how many young birds fledge.
The second survey requires a keen ear. Volunteers are trained to listen to and recognize the 16 species of frogs and toads in Iowa based on their breeding calls and listen for them in certain areas at night.
Interested volunteers must register for and attend a training workshop. The Iowa DNR is partnering with the Sioux County Conservation Board and three others to host the workshops.
The Sioux County Bird Nest Monitoring Workshop and the Frog and Toad Survey Workshop are both on Saturday, April 13th at Oak Grove Lodge at Oak Grove Park near Hawarden. The bird workshop is from 9:30 to 12:30. The frog and toad one is from 1 to 4 p.m. Other sites are available in Scott, Wapello, and Mahaska counties.
There is a $5 fee to cover workshop materials. For more information, you can visit http://www.iowadnr.com/vwmp/ or e-mail vwmp@dnr.iowa.gov
