Digital eye focuses on wildlife

Parks & Recreation, Oct, 2004

The world's first national park is implementing some of the newest digital technology for public benefit, Wildlife biologists at Yellowstone National Park have 2.2 million acres to monitor. Their assignments, which have included "roughing it" by following the herds to study the habitat, now have become a lot easier and more rewarding with the installation of digital cameras posted in remote areas of the park.

With this technology, Yellowstone scientists are getting groundbreaking information on bison, elk, wolf and grizzly bear habitat. "It's integral to a framework for incorporating new technologies into wildlife science, with the potential for very low intrusion into the wilderness setting. This is allowing us to get information that was previously unavailable," said Glenn Plumb, supervisory wildlife biologist for Yellowstone National Park. Several cameras are fastened to posts allowing Plumb and his team to capture unsuspecting wildlife via microwave remote control. "One of our first transmissions was in Pelican Valley with the sun setting. A grizzly bear was feeding in the grass and you could see it twitch its head listening for small animals. The imagery, color, definition and zoom capacity gave us incredible views," Plumb recalls.