Wildlife cameras tracking animals in Buffalo's Olmsted Parks
A writer strolling through Delaware Park in Buffalo recently stumbled across a small camera box mounted on a tree, part of a new urban wildlife monitoring effort by the Canisius College Applied Conservation Team. The project is led by Dr. Robin Foster, Assistant Professor of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation at Canisius, and is partnered with the Urban Wildlife Information Network, coordinated by Lincoln Park Zoo.
The team currently has 13 cameras placed across the Buffalo area, with plans to expand to 30, tracking wildlife along an urban to rural gradient. The project was approved by the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and is funded through UWIN.
Dr. Foster notes that cities are increasingly becoming refuges for wildlife as habitat destruction continues to push animals out of rural areas, making it more important than ever to understand how wildlife is using urban green spaces like Buffalo's Olmsted Parks.
