The Wilds' Wildlife Watch

What is The Wilds?

The Wilds is a 10,000 acre conservation center located in southeastern Ohio. Together with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium we work to conserve animal species. Historically, this area was surface mined for coal during the 1940's to the early 1980's. As a result, The Wilds is a mixture of unmined remnant forest, abandoned mined lands, and reclaimed prairie and grassland. The area is currently protected and much of it is being restored for native plants and wildlife. However, many of the reclaimed areas and abandoned minelands are characterized by invasive species and acid mine drainage. We are working towards removing invasive species and planting a variety of native species, both in prairies and in forests, to help improve the habitat at The Wilds for all of Ohio's native wildlife.

Why monitor wildlife?

Monitoring wildlife is an important part of restoration and wildlife ecology and research. The species we find indicates ecosystem health. We can use photos to estimate the overall occurrence of wildlife species on site. Photos may also show how species respond to both the disturbance history and our restoration efforts. An integral part of our mission is to restore quality habitat for native Ohio wildlife species. We also monitor for more rare species in this area, such as foxes and bears.

The Project

At The Wilds we have set up 48 wildlife cameras in our forested areas. These cameras are standard, motion-sensored trail cameras that many people use for hunting and monitoring wildlife. This is a non-invasive way to monitor wildlife on our property. As you can imagine, we get quite a lot of pictures from 48 cameras. That's where you come in to help! We need to identify the animals in each picture. We have thousands of images, so every classification helps! Your input will be used to create a database of wildlife found at The Wilds. They will be analyzed based on camera location for species density and richness.