Through our Conservation Partners at Yellowstone Forever, we support the important work being done by Yellowstone National Park and their Yellowstone Cougar Project.
In 2020 we donated the funds to purchase 80 Browning trail cameras that are being used by Dan Stahler and his team to monitor the cougar population inside of Yellowstone National Park.
The exciting partnership between the fStop Foundation, the National Park Service's Yellowstone Cougar Project, and Yellowstone Forever exemplifies the power of private and public partnerships to advance conservation of our cherished natural world.Dan Stahler, Project Leader for Yellowstone Cougar Project
Cougars (Puma concolor) are an important carnivore in Yellowstone National Park, with the power to influence ecological processes through predation and interactions with other species. Knowledge about cougar abundance and food habits is hard earned given their secretive nature.
The Yellowstone Cougar Project has several main objectives.
- First, using noninvasive genetic survey techniques, remote cameras, and GPS collars, biologists are able to estimate cougar abundance, distribution, and population changes over time.
- Second, GPS collars on individual cougars allow biologists to search clusters of locations on the landscape to find prey remains to determine predation patterns. Coupled together, the use of remote camera technology and ability to detect unique individuals through GPS collars and genetic data have become a powerful tool to study Yellowstone's cougars.
- Additionally, videos of wild cougars provide a awe-inspiring portal into the behaviors, social interactions, and beauty of these rarely seen carnivores.
Check out this awesome Facebook Live recording of theYellowstone Cougar Project leader, Dan Stahler, talking about cougars in Yellowstone!
Take a look at some of the incredible videos that are being generated by the cameras being used by the Yellowstone Cougar Project:
Images from the field: Yellowstone National Park
