Professor Rem Moll from the University of New Hampshire was a special guest at the August meeting of the Hudson Conservation Commission to present a project on a UNH Wildlife Monitoring camera initiative underway in the area.
“When we started, we were working with NH Fish and Game to monitor and study wildlife, and we have had a research site in Benson Park since 2022,” explained Moll. “Accurate population estimates are fundamental to wildlife management, but wildlife populations are difficult to monitor, especially mesocarnivores, or the small-to-medium-sized carnivores like coyotes, fishers, red foxes, and bobcats.”
Typically, the state used trapping data to monitor the mesocarnivore species. Moll’s program aimed to create what he called an “alternate source of data” for Fish and Game by setting up automatic wildlife cameras at key locations across the state, including Hudson.
“The study has been ongoing. I have a number of graduate and undergraduate students with a team approach to research projects so everybody gets to dip their toes in,” said Moll. “We put cameras on a tree or something similar, and it’s a passive infrared sensor, so it detects heat motion and takes an image. We compare what we get from cameras to what we call ‘scent stations,’ or a meter-diameter circle of sand that has a lure on it, and you can get the tracks of the animals.”
After reviewing the initial results of the study, it was found that scent stations were not always reliable. The Benson Park camera had at least a few confirmed detections of bobcats, fishers, and foxes. Information gathered from the cameras is used to estimate population density and habitat relationships. Early results also indicated that gray fox and fisher populations were “patchy” compared to some of the other species.
“Why did you pick Benson for this study?” asked Commission Chair Carl Murphy. “Is the habitat at Benson conducive to a wide variety of animals?”
According to Moll, UNH officials chose Benson Park randomly after it was found to meet certain environmental requirements. The southeastern part of the park was found to have greater animal diversity.
“I was a little surprised to see how high the bobcat number was,” said Vice-Chair Ken Dickinson, after looking through some early results. “Did you consider putting anything right on the Pelham-Hudson border in the Musquash Conservation Area? There’s probably more water and a longer stretch of the stream. You might be able to get a higher count on certain species and it’d be good to see the difference between what Benson Park has and Musquash right at the confluence of a couple of the swamps.”
Moll was interested in the comparison but reiterated the randomized nature of the study design.
The initial results of the Wildlife Monitoring Program are scheduled to wrap up this year, as Moll eventually wanted permission to continue the study in Hudson.
“We have an agreement to continue with Fish and Game for five more years, pending funding, though it looks like it’ll come through,” he said, adding that a recent decline of the fisher population was particularly concerning. “We also just started a fisher project where we capture live fishers and put GPS collars on them to see where they go.”
Although no decision could be made on the matter at the August conservation meeting, there were no objections to an extension of the project for Benson Park.
