New community science project focuses on wildlife-vehicle collisions

Educators from Nebraska Game and Parks will host a workshop to train volunteers for a new community science program — Dead Ahead: Nebraska’s Roadkill Reporting Project.

The workshop will be at 10 a.m. July 18 at the Schramm Education Center near Gretna.

The goal of Dead Ahead: Nebraska’s Roadkill Reporting Project is to collect enough statewide reports so researchers can pinpoint locations where wildlife-vehicle collisions happen most often. That information then can be used to make roads safer for people and wildlife by adding warning signs, fencing, and wildlife crossings.

Survey observations will be uploaded to iNaturalist, a free community science website and app. Every observation submitted to Dead Ahead also contributes to a global roadkill dataset managed by the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis. That means observations made on Nebraska roads help inform national and global efforts to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.

In this training, participants will learn about community science, gain a deeper understanding of road ecology and how it impacts wildlife and humans, acquire basic identification skills for common animals in Nebraska, learn how to conduct a survey and upload observation data to iNaturalist, and receive resources and materials.

Individuals must attend a Dead Ahead training workshop to conduct surveys for this project.

See the calendar entry at Calendar.OutdoorNebraska.gov to register for July 18. Send any questions to [email protected].

This project is in collaboration with Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Natural Legacy Project.

A Nebraska Vehicle Park Entry Permit is not required to park in the Schramm Education Center parking lot.