Project CAT (Cougars and Teaching)

A Unique Collaborative Project Between Schools and Researchers

The NatureMapping Program is Coordinating Project CAT as a Partnership between Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum and Roslyn Community Members, University of Washington, and Central Washington University.

The Project

Project CAT in designed to provide collaborative research on cougars in rural and suburban settings to better understand cougar-human interactions. K-12 students, teachers and local community members will assist researchers in this extensive study of regional cougar populations.

Project CAT is an eight year study which will involve three regions/locales in Washington State. The program's initial location is in the CleEllum area. Here cougars and community mutually coexist in an area which provides quality habitat and open spaces for both.

Eventually, one location will be selected in western Washington and another will be in the northeast corner of the state. The comprehensive goal of the project is to better understand the dynamics of people/cougar interactions within different regions of the state.

The study will also try and understand the dynamics of secondary predators (fox, coyote, bobcat, black bear) and prey populations (elk, deer, and small mammals), which interact with the cougars. This will be done by inlisting the help of students. They will be taught observation and tracking skills while at the same time learning the ecology of the area.

The result will provide a better understanding of these interactions for developing strategies for managing human development.

The Education Component

This project is an avenue for traditional research methods to blend with the direction of current education strategies. Margaret Tudor is the education director for the WDFW and NatureMapping codirector. She is helping to integrate The NatureMapping Program's curriculum for the Cle Elum School District as it addresses the Washington State Standards for Learning.

Integrating real-life research into current curriculum provides positive opportunities and experience for the student, teacher and researcher.

K-12 students will be involved in different components of the project. Selected high school students will be involved in the actual radio collaring and tracking for each of the study cougars. Younger students will report data on primary and secondary prey species such as deer and rabbits. The students will record the animal tracks, what they eat and even identify, record, and collect scat for analysis by researchers.

CyberTracker

CyberTracker is a new-age data collection tool which has been modified for The NatureMapping Program for use in Project CAT. CyberTracker is essentially a data collection software that works from a PDA platform (palmOne). CyberTracker works by icon-driven screens which ask for specific information while as the same time queing the data collector for a variety of ecological information.

CyberTracker World and has provided the tools to integrate the use of this data collection format for Project CAT. Dan Hannafious, NatureMapping Program Assistant, is coordinating the use of CyberTracker for use in this Washington State project.

Handspring Visor PDA's have the capability to attach digital cameras and Global Positioning Units (GPS) directly to the unit without cables. These additional components add to the accuracy and consistency to students work in the field. CDWG, Inc. has provided discounted pricing to NatureMappers for PDA's and GPS units.

The Research Component

WDFW Researcher, Gary Koehler, Central Washington University faculty, Jim Depaepe, Cle Elum school faculty, Sue Gribble, and NatureMapping codirector, Karen Dvornich, will have the opportunity to train teacher, student and community members how to collect and analyze scientifically credible data.

Through The NatureMapping Program, researchers are learning the value of involving students and communities in data collection.