Our Approach

Here’s how were tackling the problem of wild pig management at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve

Population Modeling

Before any decisions can be made as to how to manage the wild pigs at the preserve, we first need to have an idea of what the population size is. Our team used an N-mixture model with roughly 400,000 camera trap photos taken from 2012-2014 to generate a population estimate. This work can be supplemented with future image data that will be available as TNC continues to place more cameras around the preserve.

Cost Benefit Analyses

In order to efficiently allocate resources to manage the wild pig threat, our team will create cost benefit analyses of three potential management scenarios. The three management strategies to be analyzed are total eradication, active population management, and exclusion fencing of high-priority conservation areas.

Data at hand

We have access to the geospatial data of natural resources and wildlife photos from more than 30 camera stations in Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve (JLDP).

JLDP Geospatial Data. This data includes natural resource information on the preserve, including vegetation, wildlife observations (2012-2014), sensitive species communities, watersheds, roads, parcels, etc. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) provided this data to us through ArcGIS Online on April 29th, 2020.
Camera Trap Photos. TNC shared ~400,000 camera trap photos taken from 2012 - 2014 to the team on May 25th, 2020. There are ~203,615 JPG images from October to April and ~ 192,759 images from May to September. The camera trap photos were taken from more than 30 georeferenced camera stations located in the Dangermond Preserve. In addition, another source of wild pigs photos have been captured by TNC since January of 2019. These photos were taken by three wildlife cameras along the coast of the preserve at three locations.

A wild sow with a piglet on the left and a little calf on the right.

Camera trap photos capture a variety of wildlife