WHEN YOU CALL ME THAT, SMILE! A MOTH-ER IN WYOMING.

Dwaine Wagoner, guest speaker for Murie Audubon’s November program, has combined his expertise in photography and observation, and will update us on his photos of Wyoming’s moths.  Dwaine, who has photographed over 350 moth species in Natrona County, will talk about how he found and photographed these moths and share many of his photos with us.

With the exception of “miller” moths, we seldom notice moths, yet there are more than 12,000 species in North America north of Mexico.  Worldwide there are more species of moths than all the species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles put together.  This talk will explore a few of those moths that may be seen in Wyoming.

Dwaine was born in Indiana and grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.  He first came to Wyoming in the summer of 1998 to volunteer with the Tate Museum and continued spending summers here until 2005, when he moved here permanently.  Dwaine continues to volunteer at the Tate Museum.  He assisted in the excavation of the mammoth now on display at the Tate, and is now working on the T-Rex. He has also led many field trips at the Audubon Center.

Many of you will remember Dwaine’s previous programs and this one promises to be just as educational and entertaining; so please join us on Friday, November 9, 2012 at 7 pm at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building at 2211 King Blvd.  As always, the program is free and open to the public!  Program Chair—Bruce Walgren

Umbrella Species Project 

We are once again tapping into the resources and knowledge of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming for the October program.  Jason Carlisle is a Ph.D. student in the Program in Ecology at the University of Wyoming and he will share his work on the umbrella species project.

Wildlife managers, tasked with conserving a growing number of imperiled species, and given only a fixed or declining amount of resources to do so, often turn to an approach known as proxy conservation.  Under this approach, one carefully selected species (or group of species) acts as a surrogate for other species of conservation interest, guiding management actions that incidentally benefit the whole suite of species of conservation interest.

An umbrella species is one form of surrogate, and the umbrella concept traces its beginnings back to the mid-1980s and questions of protected area design.  In essence, by protecting the area required to maintain a viable population of the umbrella species (typically the species requiring the most area), managers expect to conserve viable populations of other target species of interest.

Wildlife managers and policy makers have implemented the Greater Sage-Grouse as an umbrella species, and Core Areas of sage grouse breeding habitat have been designated as quasi-protected areas here in Wyoming, where managers hope to conserve grouse and other wildlife species of conservation need.

The plan is to determine if Wyoming’s sage grouse Core Areas have biological support as an umbrella for conserving non-game target species (including avian, small mammal, and reptile species of greatest conservation need), and at what spatial scale the Core Area umbrella is valid.

Please join us on Friday, October 12, 2012 at 7 pm at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building at 2211 King Blvd. for this interesting program.  As always, the program is free and open to the public!