Before going on with the project work today, we had a great discussion about our appropriate attitude toward the whole endeavor.  We decided to classify our whole project as an experiment, as we are learning new things every step of the way. After surveying the preserve and observing that most of the flora and fauna on the preserve are nonnative, we wondered whether endangered species could thrive there. JP agreed with our thoughts, and reminded us that while some “specialist” species were very picky when it came to the species with which they shared their pabitat, but ground squirrels and burrowing owls are less discriminatory.

However, burrowing owls are notoriously picky with their burrowing sites, as our research showed. They refuse to accept any non-natural homes, and also do not tolerate homes that are too near certain distractions, such as noisy construction sites.

A previous experiment involving man-made burrows instead of squirrel-dug burrows failed: the first year, only two pairs of owls made their home there. By the end of the second year, they were all gone.  We are hoping this doesn't happen here, since we are mimicking the way nature intended burrowing owls to acquire their burrows, but we are still nervous about the outcomes of this project.

Our partnership with the Zoo continues, and this email details our exact progress up to this point.  It is really coming along much more quickly than any of us had ever imagined, which is incredible, since we had not expected to be ready to add animals until well into the later half of this year.  However, it appears that we are soon going to be introducing ground squirrels into this preserve!

Hi Stephanie,

We are rolling forward with the project, and last week we finished building all the holding cages.  We are scheduled to begin installing traps at the field site Monday, May 2nd.  We also expect to be very busy in June and in need of lots of help, when do you finish school?  Please do keep in touch, we have every intention of including you in the project to the best of our abilities.

JP

Today we started mailing out our materials for the International Conference.  Our visits to the field have already shown us still another side of our issue.  We saw injured owls, owls sealed into their burrows, crushed or poisoned recklessly, and saw the construction companies in action.  It was frightening, and at the same time enlightening.  These visits to rescue owls have opened our eyes to the need for change in this situation and further strengthened our resolve to save these owls.  There is no doubt that our work is necessary; if only legislative committees could understand this and join in the protection of these important and vulnerable animals.

I must also report, with difficulty, the dropping of a core member, Jojo Lee, from our International Conference excursion because of personal conflicts.  She has, however, generously offered to further develop our display materials, including our scrapbook.  We tried not to think about the loss of Jojo during our competition, and continued our work, editing our presentations from State and continuing to communicate with natural preserves.  Either way, we need to continue spreading our efforts, and we continue visiting our colonies to check their process.  Hopefully we will see owls living here soon!

Today we competed at the Future Problem Solving California State Bowl!

We compiled a powerpoint presentation about our project to an audience of hundreds in an auditorium.  Everyone seemed very enthusiastic about our efforts, and things are definitely looking up for us!  We tried to make it very clear to all our listeners that the burrowing owls are extremely important to the environment, and their loss could have drastic consequences for San Diegan ecosystems.  "There isn't an option to wait." one member said in an impromptu speech.  "We have to act now before we lose these beautiful animals permanently."  There aren't words to describe how amazing it was to hear the applause and inquiries about our project, or to receive first place for our efforts and hearing that we could attend the International Conference soon.  We would be able to spread our message to people from all over the world.  My team and I jumped at this chance, and we will be presenting soon to an international audience!

Hi JP,

Thanks for thinking of us! Sorry about the break/delay in communication. 

Availability wise, this coming week is finals week. However, we have a week off (Spring Break) from April 10-15. 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are good days; Friday - Sunday most of us will be out of town. About the following weeks... I can't give you a schedule on that, as events are fairly variable.

How long will the ground squirrel eco-engineering projcet take? Will these likely be full-day or half-day ventures? 

Thanks,
STOP

Hi STOP,

My name is JP and I work with Colleen Lenihan under Ron Swaisgood.  Thank you from all of us for getting in touch, we are looking forward to using your support!

Just to keep you in the loop, we are working out the details of getting the materials for the squirrel cages today.  Could you tell me your group's schedule?  I imagine you all have classes during the day, so what days of the week and what times would you be available to help us with all our tasks?

Thank you, I look forward to meeting you all very soon,

Jean-Pierre Montagne

Sr. Research Technician

Applied Animal Ecology Division

San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research
15600 San Pasqual Valley Rd Escondido CA 92027-7000

(760) 291-5481
www.zooconservation.org

"We are the science of saving species"™

Hi Dr. Lenihan,

We think that's a great plan! Establishing safe nests for the burrowing owls sounds be helpful in the long run, too, because then they'll have secure places to rear their young for years to come. We're extremely psyched about the owls.

Today I talked with a few STOP members, and we came up with a few quick questions. First off, what's the rough time frame for this? Has the Zoo already began the project or are you going to start in late March/early April? Do you think this will carry on into the summer? (We'd be willing to help then, too, although earlier's probably better for the owls.)

We were also wondering exactly how big the cages were.  Do you happen to have any diagrams of the process?

Our schedules might be a little tight, but I think things are definitely starting to lighten up in spring.  Anyway, please let us know what times/locations (I think Mr. Swaisgood said Otay Mesa?) are suitable, and we'll try to bring as many people as we can to assist you in these efforts.

Thanks,
S.T.O.P.

Dr. Lenihan has agreed to take on our project!  She and her group of professional researchers have further reviewed our plans and helped us create a reasonable timeline for its implementation.  She explains in the email the exact steps and reasons for those steps.  After all these months of hectic work, we're so excited to be able to start this portion of our project!

Hi Members of STOP,

We love your Burrowing owl / CA ground squirrel project!

We are about to launch the field portion of this project and we do need some help. Part of the project involves re-introducing CA ground squirrels to enhance habitat and success of burrowing owls because owls need squirrels to dig burrows and keep the grass short around their nesting areas. We could relocate approximately 300 squirrels and hold them at the new site for approximately 1 week. This means that we will need to build 108 underground burrow pens and about 30 or so above-ground  acclimation pens. The combination of artificial burrows installed underground and the acclimation pens aboveground will hold the squirrels for one week before we set them free by removing the aboveground pens.

So, first we need help building and installing both above and below ground holding pens.  This will involve building cages, possibly at your school if you have facilities for that type of work and then going out in the field with our research team to install and set up the experimental relocation sites.  You would be interacting with a team of biologists that work with the Institute of Conservation Research and we would be more than happy to present to your club/class presentations about this project.

Are you interested in a venture of this type? If so please send me your contact info.

Thank you,

Colleen Lenihan

Postdoctoral Researcher
Institute for Conservation Research
San Diego Zoo Global

Wow, things have been hectic lately.

After trashing dozens of possible designs, we've finally settled on a final owl key chain model that we have constructed by hand.  We will likely be expanding to faster modes of manufacture when our sales pick up.  This time, we simply wanted to know how our design would look in 3D, and finally, we took some pictures and had our first sale today!  We also brainstormed an idea to have each piece of merchandise come with a placard with burrowing owl information on it so we can be sure to spread the word about this little bird!  We need to get the word out and help now before we lose this species forever.

We've also finally come up with a final T-shirt design, thanks to our member Jojo Lee.  We're in the process of creating physical copies of it and writing the placard to include with our products.  We've also been updating our website and starting to really buckle down and write the final report for our competition.  There's the visual presentation we need to have, as well as materials to hand out around the community, and on top of that, we're on another round of refining our project outline.  Honestly, we would have all collapsed already if we didn't believe in our cause.  There's always such a sense of purpose and need to spread the word and save this essential species before it's too late.  The urgency of our work shows every time we drive along the road and look at the dead patches of land where owls had once thrived, or read a report about the faulty laws regarding construction and habitat destruction.  We're starting to meet more in school, working during our lunches and after school.  We really need to make the world see the worth of this species, and convince it that the fate of these owls really applies to them as well.

After a bit of negotiation, we contacted Dr. Lenihan about the possibilities of actually realizing our project outline.  

Dear Dr. Lenihan,

We are STOP, or Save the [Burrowing] Owls Project, a group of high school students who are passionate about the conservation of western burrowing owls.  We learned about your plans to start an owl conservation project in Otay Mesa in Southern California.  We contacted Mr. Swaisgood a while back and he expressed interest in our project ideas, and he told us he had informed you of our intentions and you had expressed interest in our project.

We are wondering, in the coming months, is there any way we can help you?  Mr. Swaisgood mentioned that we could work with squirrels as eco-engineers in Otay Mesa, possibly developing an owl colony.  Our project outline is attached for reference.

Thank you so much, and we looking forward to hearing back from you!

Sincerely,

S.T.O.P.
Canyon Crest Academy HS, San Diego