Fifty five days in fifty seconds. Watch the INL desert bloom again after the 2010 Jefferson Fire.
The Jefferson Fire started July 13, 2010, on the Idaho National Laboratory. Winds gusting at more than 50 mph pushed the fire northeast. It eventually burned about 109,000-acres, or 170 square miles. The following spring, a camera was placed within the burn area to document the natural recovery process.
A pygmy rabbit burrow surveillance camera catches a badger invading the burrow.
Posted May 12, 2010 Dance
in the Desert The Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) has
been the subject of both research and monitoring on the INL Site since
the mid-1970s. In 2006, S. M. Stoller, through the Environmental
Surveillance, Education and Research Program, partnered with the
Wildlife Conservation Society to initiate a study for a variety
of animal species in the development zone on the INL Site. Because
greater sage-grouse is considered a candidate species, one of the
principle components will be a Candidate Conservation
Agreement between DOE-ID and the USFWS concerning conservation actions
that DOE-ID will take to minimize threats to sage-grouse.
WCS is responsible for documenting sage-grouse
occurrence and seasonal habitat preferences across the INL Site using
radio telemetry data gathered from sage-grouse fitted with radio
transmission collars. These data will be used to parameterize spatially
explicit statistical models that will delineate the areas most used by
sage-grouse on the INL Site. Sage-grouse on the INL Site were fitted
with radio collars during the spring of 2008, 2009 and 2010. Sage-grouse
have subsequently been tracked throughout the year on both the ground
and in the air until the bird either died or the battery on the
transmitter expired. Intensive monitoring of collared females allows
technicians to locate nests and document nest success.
Twenty female elk are now wearing GPS collars as they roam the
Idaho National Laboratory Site. Idaho State University wildlife
biologist Ryan Long is coordinating the elk study for his graduate work.
Funding for the study comes from the Department of Energy through Stollers Environmental Surveillance, Education and Research Program.
ESER provides funding for research at several universities, including
ISU.
Information collected about the desert elk will be compared to research
currently being conducted on an elk herd in Oregon that occupies more
typical forested habitat. The collars record location, activity and
movement data for elk that started claiming a more permanent place on
site ground a few decades ago.
Posted August, 2009 - Stoller ESER Program Interns
Stoller has had a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy for the
Environmental Surveillance, Education and Research Program for eight
years. During that time they have hired about twenty interns. Many
continue on to graduate school. Some go to professional schools, medical
schools, dental schools and some get hired by Stoller, and are
incredibly valuable members of our team, said Roger Blew, Ph.D.
ecologist. Other former interns have gone on to become college
professors. It is an excellent program for students who are interested
in science.
Each year Stoller hires summer interns primarily to
support ecological field work. The company looks for students with
backgrounds in biology, ecology, range- or wildlife-management or an
interest in science and hands-on field research.
