SAS Needs Your Support for Motus Wildlife Tracking Towers!    

by Doug McSpadden & Ben Goodheart

The Sacajawea Audubon Society Board is very excited to present a Motus Tower project to its membership and to the birding and conservation communities across Montana and the Northern Rockies.

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is an international collaboration that uses miniaturized radio transmitters to track birds, bats and even insects across Canada, the United States, and Mexico, down through Central and South America. This data provides researchers with a better understanding of critical flyways and habitat so we can better protect migratory populations.

A tagged Chestnut-collared Longspur

Currently, there are approximately 40 towers in Montana. The objective is to create radio telemetry “fences”; one across Montana’s Hi-Line and another along the Yellowstone River extending over to Dillon and down to Idaho. There are Motus towers covering the western part of the state. These towers will be the first in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

A representative of the American Bird Conservancy, a national partner in the Motus network, reached out to SAS to see if we would like to partner with them and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) to help plug a hole in the southern fence from Paradise Valley over to the Jefferson River.

The SAS Board has signed on and our objective will be to raise $40,000.  These funds will cover the cost of three Motus towers and the long-term maintenance of the system, and to purchase radio transmitter “tags”. One tower will be located near the Indreland Audubon Wetland Preserve (IAWP)to help collect data for the wetland and along the East Bozeman drainage. This will provide endless educational opportunities for the public to engage in science and conservation locally at your IAWP.  This includes tagging birds and tracking movements of our wetland migrants on the open source Motus website!

For more information and to make a donation, visit our website https://sacajaweaaudubon.org/project/motus-towers/

These Motus Wildlife Tracking Towers will be the featured project during Give Big on May 1 and 2 for Sacajawea Audubon Society.