Earth Protect Blog

Project turns to technology to protect animal from climate change

By Kiara Demare

The Denver Post

Above 8,000 feet in Colorado, pikas — a tiny, furry animal with large mouse-like ears — can be seen and heard on hiking and rock-climbing trails.

“When I’m up in the mountains, one of my favorite things is hearing a pika squeak or seeing one,” Andrew Wells, co-director of the Colorado Pika Project and community conservation coordinator at Denver Zoo, said. “It’s like a burst of excitement.”

But the pika may be at risk because of climate change.

The Colorado Pika Project last month launched an app called “Pika Patrol” that allows people to help wildlife researchers study pika populations. The app allows casual outdoors enthusiasts to send data on sightings, calls, scat and other signs of pika life in the mountains.

“The pika app lets me turn that burst of excitement into data that helps pika conservation. It’s like a scavenger hunt for the cutest thing out there.” Wells said.

Pikas tend to live in colder, high-altitude habitats. As temperatures begin to rise and snowfall changes, the Colorado Pika Project wants to know how pikas are surviving and how they can be protected. For now, pika populations appear to be stable in Colorado, but their presence in Nevada and Oregon is on the decline, according to the pika project’s website.

“It is a unique opportunity for people to make observations on how the world is changing around us,” said Johanna Varner, a Colorado Mesa University professor and one of the leaders of the project. “One goal for the app is getting more people involved in making observations in mountain habitats. Another is being able to broaden our data collection. We can’t be everywhere all the time. Involving the community into being eyes, ears and boots on the ground could be very powerful in collecting useful data.”

Participants don’t need training on pika research. The new app opens the study to anyone with a smartphone, Varner said. All of the training materials are on the app and can be accessed without cell phone service.

“A lot of times, with community science projects, people had to live in certain areas and volunteer a lot of time. What’s cool about the app is that it does not matter where you live you can insert data,” Varner said. “There’s no time requirement for training.”

The data gathered from the app is displayed on Colorado Pika Project’s website, including information on the number of sightings, location of pikas and how many were in one spot.

The Rocky Mountains have been the habitat of pikas for 12,000 years, according to The National Wildlife Federation. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to extend Endangered Species Act protections to the animal even though some populations are in decline.

Megan Mueller, with Rocky Mountain Wild and a co-director of the Colorado Pika Project, saw her first pika at the age of 6. She hopes the project helps the animal survive.

“I grew up in Colorado. I can remember the first time I saw a pika and the excitement I felt. They are a part of what makes the alpine here in Colorado special. They are also great indicators of the health of our alpine eco-system,” Mueller said. “They’re just really cool animals.”