TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In an effort to help provide park leaders with information on wildlife, 60 cameras were set up by the National Park Service’s Sonoran Desert Network across Saguaro National Park West.
Sometimes capturing thousands of images, the small cameras provide insight into mammals at the park that may not otherwise be known.
“Using this kind of information, we can inform park managers about what the changes are that we’re seeing over time,” Scientist and Program Manager Andy Hubbard said. “The value of long-term monitoring becomes more important the longer you do it. So you start to see some of these trends and changes that maybe we didn’t expect over time and the idea is that it’s an early warning.”
The program was first piloted in 2016. Now, almost a decade later, cameras are set up at three locations throughout the year: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument and Saguaro National Park West.
The 60 cameras were set up at Saguaro National Park West on January 18. They were retrieved six weeks later during the weekend of March 1.
“We’re trying to keep the locations and the time periods the same. It’s easier for us to have the changes, the real changes that are happening over time with these animals,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard says this work is possible largely thanks to volunteers.
“We use citizen scientists for kind of two reasons. One is we don’t have a large enough staff, we don’t have enough people essentially to do this on our own,” he said. “The second reason is that it’s a great educational opportunity for folks to get out and learn about their parks, their resources and what we’re doing for science in the national park service.”
He says the most commonly seen animals at Saguaro National Park West are Desert Cottontail and Mule Deer. The cameras also provide insight into their activity and habits.
“Here at Saguaro at the west district where we’re having a lot of high visitation, people using trails, more development kind of happening around the park since we started this, what we’re seeing is that some animals are more shy, if you will, around people. There’s a few species that seem maybe perhaps attracted to human activity. So some of those patterns and how those have shifted over time have been really interesting.”
Now that the cameras have been retrieved, staff will work to identify all of the animals photographed during the six weeks.
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
