survey Archives - Eric Hanson

I have spent countless jarring hours riding on top of an all terrain vehicle (ATV) while doing survey work for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). I’ve taken all of the safety courses offered during my employment there and have never had any safety issue while using ATVs in the field. I’ve gotten them stuck a few times, but with the larger style Ranger ATVs, they get stuck in mud quite easily due to their weight.

ATV use with my camera in the orange pelican case and a tape ran along native prairie to conduct a belt transect survey

To get the ATV into the field, I’ve used trailers that can hold up to 4 ATVs. I’m familiar with all tie down procedures and safe trailering operations. For the times when I was doing survey work alone, I used ramps to park the ATV in the back of the truck bed. I’ve taken ATVs into very remote areas on the back of a pickup truck and am quite experienced in off highway vehicle travel (OHV) and 4-wheeling.

I have experience operating manual clutch ATVs, automatic ATVs, 6-wheeled ATVs, and multi-passenger ATVs. I’ve ridden in all environmental conditions and over a vast array of land types.

For the three summer TERM employment opportunities I had with the USFWS, I participated in the four-square-mile breeding waterfowl survey (FSM). These are incredibly fun surveys to do, and I hope to be able to do more of them in the future. I got to canoe down a water basin with a partner and identify wetland birds and waterfowl as we paddled down a lazy stream. I even got to do it from an air boat at the Arrowwood NWR one time. That was a difficult one as the birds were scared up by the boat and started circling the body of water.

I also was able to participate in some rocket netting in North Dakota on a wildlife preserve. It was quite fun, and we didn’t decapitate too many individuals. Many of the birds got banded, but a lot just had to be tallied and let go.

The FSM survey entails recording pairs of breeding pairs of waterfowl or wetland birds and whether or not they are hatch year, or after hatch year (determined by plumage) in a four square mile area. See some images below on what a typical wetland looks like in North Dakota and South Dakota.

ducks — Shovler top right, green wing teal left

Several waterfowl on a wetland in the prairie pothole region — A typical scene for counting breeding pairs of waterfowl on a wetland in the prairie pothole region

Learning Through Life

Eric Hanson

Tag Archives: survey

All Terrain Vehicle Operation

Four Square Mile Survey

Learning Through Life