How Home Building may affect Wildlife
Two scientists, Heidi Kretser and Michale Glennon, who are part of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Adirondack decided to find out how building a home can impact wildlife. They came up with a study that would show them this. They would look at small mammals, large mammals, and amphibians and reptiles. This study was done at three different stages during the process of building, which included the stage before construction was done, the time while the construction was being done, and then the stage that was after the construction had been completed.
One study that they did was set up at the home site for the Kraft family. They were working to build a home that was energy efficient in the Upper Saranac Lake area. Now these scientists are in the second part of the surveys, bind done at a control site as well as at the site of construction. They reason they have decided to use a control site is so that they can see the differences in changes in population that is due to phenomena that may be region wide and those that are actually due to the impact of construction.
To learn a lot more about this study being done, the researchers for the summer from the Wildlife Conservation society were joined by Kinna Ohman. Here is a look at some of what they found. They started out by checking the traps they had set up to see what they have. The first trap that was checked was apparently robbed by rodents, which meant they got away and were able to get out, so they had evidence that rodents were at least there. This is one of the more typical results that they get while during their studies.
Then they found another trap on their walk at the site that actually had something in it – a mole. This new find doesn’t have a tag, so they weight and tag this little mole. They are easily tagged on the mole, and is number 83 of those they have tagged. Once the mole is tagged, they simply let it go.
The next thing they do is check out the remote camera that they are using. They set up a feed trough so they can attract some of the animals to the area and so the camera will catch pictures of the animals that arrive at the feed trough. Often they get raccoons on the camera although often they get some deer as well and they’ve even seen a bear at one point.
Although the studies have not been concluded, these studies are very important. While it is definitely known that big developments will have a big impact on the environment, no one is quite sure how much impact there will be if there is only one home being built. With the conclusions of these studies, hopefully these questions will be answered.
