Hello 2011 Marmot Volunteers!

I have FINALLY wrapped up processing all the 2011 marmot data, looking at maps, and summarizing the data. Ive prepared more in-depth report for my records, but below is a summarization of the key points from last years efforts: Based on feedback that we got from folks who surveyed in 2010, who indicated that they were hampered by persistent snow-packs in some areas of the Park, we decided to not start the 2011 surveys until August to give the snow more time to melt. Boy, am I glad we did that because 2011 turned out to have an even higher late season snowpack than 2010 the highest on record. Even with the later start, deep snow interfered with surveying in 2011. Some of the trip assignments in the first two sessions had to be re-assigned from the snowier west side of the park to the drier east, or postponed until later in the year. However even at the end of August some clusters could not be safely surveyed. Despite the record high snowpack, the survey crew in 2011 was able to safely survey the majority of the marmot habitat in the park. When survey conditions were not safe, due to river crossings and or snowfields, volunteers made the right choice and did not try to survey. Volunteers safely surveyed for marmots at 61 habitat clusters throughout the park; only 5 clusters in 2 trips all in the occasional group were not visited. Persistent snow precluded surveys in many of the survey units, especially early in the year or in areas in the western Olympics where snowfields persisted into September (Figure 1). However, surveyors were able to completely survey 239 units, partially survey 39 and unable to survey 57 others (Figures 1 and 2a). Of the units that were completely surveyed, 49% were found to be occupied by marmots, where volunteer surveyors either saw marmots or fresh marmot sign. 20% of the survey units were abandoned (surveyors saw past but not recent sign of marmot use), and 31% had no sign of marmots (Figures 1 and 2b).

Figure 1. Location of survey units and survey results for units that were completely surveyed in 2011. Units with incomplete surveys are included in the not surveyed group.

Figure 2. Survey results for 2011: a) number and proportion of units that showed signed of marmots that had complete (CS) and incomplete (ICS) surveys, and b) number and proportion of units that had signs of marmots for complete surveys only. These results are very comparable to what was observed in 2010, when 80 volunteers surveyed 260 units, of which 48% were occupied, 27% abandoned, and 25% no sign. 60 survey units had complete surveys conducted by two different groups. Of those 60, in 46 instances (77% of the time) the surveyors had the same result (23 occupied, 4 abandoned, and 19 no sign). Of the 14 instances when groups came to different conclusions, 64% of the cases one group called a unit abandoned and the other found no sign of marmots. There were only 4 cases in which one group saw no sign of marmots, whereas the other called the unit occupied. In all 4 of these cases the occupied determination was made in a later trip, after more snow had left the unit. These results confirm that volunteers detect marmots approximately 90% of the time when they are present. Based on your comments, our observations, and other developments, the following changes are in store for the program in 2012: 1) We will try to be more explicit with the information on the web about the difficulty of hiking off trail to survey some of the sites, and the length of some of the hikes into the survey area. Some of the volunteers stated that the job was a bit tougher than they expected. 2) We will look for a larger meeting room for training in 2012, if possible. We were a bit cramped in the classroom phase and it would be good if we could spread out and also provide some writing surfaces. Several folks stated that it would be good to go through a dry run filling out a form before they hit the field. 3) We will simplify the directions for recording labels on waypoints many found this onerous. Ill also try to get more GPSs and some loaner cameras. 4) Staff from Olympic National Forest asked us if we would expand the survey area to sites outside the Park, on adjacent National Forest Lands. We are working with them right now, identifying possible habitat to survey. I anticipate adding 3 more trips on Forest Service Lands in 2012. 5) We are keeping our fingers crossed for more normal August snow-packs! Finally, those of you who were in the 17 August training session may remember a crew who was there filming the training. Their video is done, and is available at http://www.nwparkscience.org/video We hope to use this in 2012 to help recruit volunteers and do some pre-season familiarization with what the program involves! Thanks for all your hard work in 2011, and please let me know if you are interested in returning in 2012. I hope to have the website updated in March and will start recruiting new volunteers in April. Patti