COSAM News Articles 2013 November SCB Indigo Snake Reintroduction Project Work-Weekend

SCB Indigo Snake Reintroduction Project Work-Weekend

Published: 11/11/2013

On November 9-10 four SCB members and faculty advisor Dr. Bob Boyd traveled to Conecuh National Forest to assist with the Eastern Indigo Snake Reintroduction Project. This collaborative project (involving AU and a number of partners) seeks to re-establish this snake into Alabama after a 50-year absence. AU DBS faculty member Dr. Craig Guyer and his students are researching the success of this program, and SCB has been involved with the project for several years. This weekend trip, led by Jim Godwin of the Alabaman Natural Heritage Program at Auburn, helped to set up an experiment designed to determine how the released snakes have affected their food supply on the National Forest. We placed 18 box traps (5 by 5 feet in size) that will be used to estimate numbers of prey items in 3 large areas of the forest. It was an excellent chance to help with an innovative project that gives students hands-on experience with conservation in action!