Community science cameras and surveys boost monitoring of Snowy Plovers on Great Salt Lake’s South Shore

Chelsea Cameron, co‑presenting for a collaborative Audubon/Tracy Aviary pilot, described a community‑science Snowy Plover monitoring program on the South Shore of the Great Salt Lake that pairs nest and camera surveys with tagging and recreational use observations. The project targets three sites—Lee Creek (reference, no public access), Kennicott (moderate use) and Saltair (high public access)—and aims to quantify how different disturbances affect nest success and breeding behavior.

The program now combines four survey components: repeated nest surveys, camera monitoring, MOTUS/MODIS tagging and recreational use observations. “This is essentially a community science project,” Chelsea said, adding that volunteers perform nest searches, disturbance counts and camera installations. Intern Kimber Jeffries said cameras were installed about 2 meters from nests with signs to keep people away and were programmed for time‑lapse and motion capture to record disturbances.

Preliminary results show substantially improved ability to determine nest outcomes after the addition of cameras. Presenters reported 89.8% camera coverage this season and a 78.3% measured nest success rate for nests with camera coverage versus far lower known‑success rates in earlier years without cameras. Kimber described examples captured on cameras that illustrated both predation events (a raven and a coyote were documented) and human disturbances (a visitor accidentally stepped on a nest and a paramotor flushed birds from nests).

The team has added a structured recreational use survey that records people, dogs and aerial activity at defined zones (backshore, midshore, foreshore and entrances) during randomized two‑hour observation periods, plus a forthcoming visitor intercept survey to gather opinions about management options. Speakers emphasized integrating these results into management scenarios such as signage, seasonal closures or education to reduce recreation impacts.

Questions from council members focused on predator identification, whether changing lake elevation shifts nesting distance from shore and whether expanded sampling explains observed increases in nest counts. Chelsea and Kimber said some changes in nest distribution appear linked to freshwater inflows, vegetation and flooding and that the program is building the dataset to answer those questions more robustly. The presenters asked for continued volunteer support and said they plan to publish results and make data available to managers.

The project partners named during the presentation include National Audubon, Tracy Aviary and local volunteers; the presenters asked the body to expect more detailed analyses once the 2025 field season is fully processed. The meeting moved next to demographic and nutrient updates.