UW’s Biodiversity Institute to Host Summer Moose Day Weekend July 20-21

Summer Moose Day activities will span a weekend -- Saturday and Sunday, July 20-21 -- and will include the usual routine of volunteers heading out on various trails to spot and count moose in the mountains outside of Laramie. However, this year’s event includes a new wrinkle: a group hike in Curt Gowdy State Park.

“We will be partnering with Wyoming State Parks this year to offer a group Summer Moose Day hike Saturday, July 20, at the North Crow Reservoir in Curt Gowdy State Park,” says Mason Lee, senior project coordinator in the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute. The hike begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m.

“We’ll start the hike with a short moose biology talk, and then we’ll conduct our Moose Day survey as a group while following Moose Day protocol,” Lee adds. “Participation in this guided hike does require the purchase of a daily Wyoming State Parks pass for Curt Gowdy.”

For the traditional portion of Summer Moose Day, volunteers can look for moose either day but do not have to participate both days. There are slightly more summer routes than during Winter Moose Day because there are a few routes that volunteers can drive rather than hike. There are 22 routes in the Snowy Range; 19 in the Pole Mountain area; and one route in the Arlington area.

“Like the past few years, there may be multiple survey groups surveying each route,” Lee says. “This repetition is very important for our data analysis.”

While volunteers can make their treks any time of day, Lee strongly recommends an early morning start, which is when moose are most active. Community scientists will record observations of moose or their signs, which include tracks/hoofprints, bed areas, scat droppings and browse on aspen and willows.

During the last Summer Moose Day, conducted in 2022, 16 moose -- 10 males, five females and one calf -- were spotted. That number tied for the record of most moose witnessed, which first occurred in 2016.

“We will not be holding an in-person training for Summer Moose Day, so new volunteers will need to watch the prerecorded online training and complete a training quiz before participating,” Lee says.

Moose Day registration opens today (Tuesday) and runs through Monday, July 15. To register, click here.

The data gathered from Summer Moose Day are shared with biologists at UW. Biologists use the data collected by community scientists to further their understanding of the population densities of local moose, their reproductive rates, summer habitat quality, their winter ranges and how these variables change over time.

More will be learned after Dave Christianson, an associate professor in the UW Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, and his graduate students analyze the Summer Moose Day data as well as external factors that can affect moose counts, Lee says.

Both summer and winter Moose Day events are geared toward increasing the public’s understanding of moose in the Laramie area and involving the public in asking and answering questions. The events are an extension of the original program, Moose Day, held by Nature Mapping Jackson Hole (NMJH) in Jackson each winter. NMJH is a citizen science program created by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.

The UW Biodiversity Institute fosters conservation of biodiversity through scientific discovery, creative dissemination, education and public engagement. In this setting, scientists, citizens, students and educators come together to share a wealth of perspectives on the study and appreciation of biodiversity -- from microbes to poetry and ecosystems to economics.

To learn more, visit www.wyomingbiodiversity.org.