Hello Trackers,

This month, we are officially launching the 1,000 Cats Project, a community-driven network that will allow us, our partners, Mexican and American sister parks, conservation non-governmental organizations, binational students, private ranchers, and other volunteers to collect wild cat data and take meaningful actions to protect the habitats of jaguar, ocelot, mountain lion, and bobcat.

Our goal is to document at least 1,000 cat detections in 2021 through your submissions to iNaturalist, our Border Wildlife Study photos, and submitted Sky Island FotoFauna checklists. Through this project, we believe we can create a united binational community of advocates for conservation that helps extend safe habitat for wide-ranging cats beyond national and state park borders and raises awareness of the feline habitat humans live in.

Every cat sign, scat, sighting, and track you submit to this project will help inform our work.

Don't forget the key elements of cat tracks:

• Asymmetrical
• Trapezoidal plantar pad
• Three lobes at the bottom of the pad
• Small thin claws if present at all

If you wish to remain at your existing transects to do this tracking please do so, but this is project is not limited to the transects. If you see a cat track while out hiking, camping, or even doing yard work, submit it to this same Tracking Project page. You can still submit other wildlife tracks as you see them, but this year we would like to focus just on felines.

Thank you,

SIA

Hello Trackers,
Thank you for your continued support and data during this slow period of the tracking transect program. However we have a fun opportunity to focus your tracking effort!

Later this year Sky Island Alliance will be announcing the 1,000 Cats Project! This bi-national project will bring together Mexican and American sister parks, conservation non-governmental organizations, students, and private ranchers in a joint effort to document and communicate the presence of cats across the Sky Island region. With goal to document at least 1,000 cat detections in 2021, this project will raise awareness of the feline habitat human communities live within and inspire local solutions to improve habitat quality and safety for wild cats.

While this project hasn't officially launched, we need your help to start collecting data and documenting cat tracks to help inform our work.

Don't forget the key elements of cat tracks:

• Asymmetrical
• Trapezoidal plantar pad
• Three lobes at the bottom of the pad
• Small thin claws if present at all

If you wish to remain at your existing transects to do this tracking please do so, but this is project is not limited to the transects. If you see a cat track while out hiking, camping, or even doing yard work, submit it to this same Tracking Project page. You can still submit other wildlife tracks as you see them, but this year we would like to focus just on felines. Additionally you don't have to strictly follow the seasonal tracking windows.

However if you would like to see the 2021 calendar it is this:

• Winter: January 2-31
• Spring: March 13 - April 4
• Dry Summer: May 22 - June 13
• Monsoon: July 24 - August 15
• Fall: October 23 - November 14
Thank you, Meagan

Here is the schedule of survey windows for 2020!

1 Winter – January 4 – 31
2 Spring – March 14 – April 5
3 Dry Summer – May 16 – June 7
4 Monsoon – July 25 – August 16
5 Fall – October 25 – November 16

Thank you all so much for your help!
Meagan

Here is the schedule of survey windows for 2019!

1 Winter – January 5 – 27
2 Spring – March 16 – April 7
3 Dry Summer – May 11 – June 2
4 Monsoon – July 27 – August 18
5 Fall – October 26 – November 17

Thank you all so much for your help!
Bryon

Hi All,

Most of you should know about the change in the survey schedule by now, but I'm posting up the dates for the last survey of the year, just in case you need a reminder.

The Fall Survey Window will run from October 28th through November 19th.

Thank you all for everything! I'll be posting the 2018 schedule soon...

Bryon

Hey there fellow trackers!

Here is the survey schedule for the coming year.

January 6 – 19
February 10 – 23
March 16 – 29
May 4 – 17
July 27 – August 9
September 7 – 20
October 19 – November 1
November 23 – Dec 6

Please note that we have indeed removed the June tracking window,.

Let's go find some cool tracks!
~Bryon

Mark your calendars and gather your tracking buddies!
Upcoming surveys this year:

Monsoon survey: July 29 - August 11 (watch for flooding, and plan a back-up "rain-date")
Early Fall survey: September 2 - 15
Late Fall survey: October 14 - 27
Early Winter survey: November 25 - December 8 (first team to get track photos in the snow wins!)

Next year we will remove the Late summer survey in June.

Happy tracking!
~Jessica