Our Objectives
Carnivore Project works with communities across the Sierra Nevada foothills and Northern California to document carnivore encounters, examine regional patterns, and provide practical information that supports safer human-wildlife coexistence.
Track
We document community-reported sightings, trail-camera detections, tracks and other wildlife sign, historical accounts, and reported livestock or pet incidents. Long-term reporting helps us identify where encounters are being reported and how those reports change over time.
Mountain lions · Black bears · Gray wolves
Collect
We collect information about the circumstances surrounding an encounter, including the type of observation, available photographs or video, landscape context, attractants, animal husbandry practices, and protection methods in use at the time.
Sightings · Camera data · Community experiences
Understand
We combine community reports with field observations, camera data, interviews, and available environmental information to develop a clearer picture of reported carnivore activity and human-wildlife interactions across the region.
Research · Education · Conflict mitigation
What the data can tell us
Community reports can reveal patterns in reported encounters, including where and when residents are observing carnivores and the circumstances surrounding those observations.
Sightings alone do not determine population size, prove changes in animal behavior, or show every place carnivores occur. We use careful language and incorporate additional evidence whenever broader conclusions require it.
Our Goals
Our goal is to turn community observations and field research into information residents can use. We work to support people living alongside carnivores while advocating for responsible, science-based wildlife management and conservation.
Build a long-term regional record
Maintain consistent records of reported mountain lion, black bear, and gray wolf activity across the Sierra Nevada foothills and Northern California so regional patterns can be examined over time.
Improve coexistence
Help residents understand how to respond to encounters, reduce attractants, protect pets and livestock, and make informed decisions about living in carnivore habitat.
Evaluate practical protection methods
Document the animal-husbandry and conflict-mitigation methods residents are using, examine the circumstances in which they are used, and identify questions that require additional research.
Connect communities with reliable help
Make county-specific contacts, encounter guidance, reporting resources, and wildlife information easier to find when residents need them.
Represent community experiences
Listen to residents without dismissing their experiences or overstating risk, and bring documented concerns to appropriate agencies, researchers, and community partners.
Keep the work publicly accessible
Share maps, reports, educational resources, research findings, and appropriate limitations so the communities contributing data can understand how that information is being used.
Better information, safer communities, and stronger coexistence.
Carnivore Project works to close the gap between community experience, wildlife research, and the services residents need.
Our work is intended to support both the people sharing these landscapes and the carnivores that inhabit them.
Community knowledge becomes more useful when it is documented, examined carefully, and returned to the public in an accessible form.
Research Questions
Our research questions guide what information we collect and where additional evidence is needed. As Carnivore Project’s regional dataset grows, these questions may be refined to reflect new information, changing conditions, and community needs.
How do reported mountain lion, black bear, and gray wolf encounters vary by location, season, time, and type of observation?
What circumstances are most commonly reported when carnivores are seen near homes, roads, recreation areas, pets, or livestock?
Which animal-husbandry and conflict-mitigation practices are being used by livestock owners, and under what circumstances are successful or unsuccessful outcomes reported?
What attractants, food sources, fencing conditions, livestock practices, or other property characteristics are present when conflict or repeated wildlife activity is reported?
Which landscape characteristics are associated with the locations of verified reports and camera detections across the project’s service area?
How do wildfire, drought, development, seasonal conditions, and other landscape changes correspond with patterns in reported carnivore encounters?
Where do trail-camera detections and community sightings support one another, and where do they reveal gaps in reporting or monitoring coverage?
What information, guidance, and agency contacts do residents need to respond safely and effectively to carnivore encounters?
How have the number, location, and circumstances of reported encounters changed throughout the life of the project?
How do verified gray wolf detections, community reports, and livestock concerns change as wolves naturally recolonize portions of California?
Different questions require different evidence.
Some questions can be examined using community-reported sightings. Others require verified camera detections, interviews, agency records, environmental data, field observations, or collaboration with wildlife researchers.
Carnivore Project distinguishes between what residents reported, what available evidence supports, and what cannot yet be concluded. This keeps our public information useful, transparent, and scientifically responsible.
Support Carnivore Project
Carnivore Project is a community-supported nonprofit. Contributions help us maintain field equipment, manage community-science data, develop public resources, respond to residents, and expand responsible carnivore monitoring across the Sierra Nevada foothills and Northern California.
Fund the work
Donations support field equipment, data-management tools, public education, research materials, community assistance, and the practical costs of maintaining a regional wildlife project.
Donate to Carnivore ProjectSponsor a Camera Trap
Help place a new trail camera in the field or cover the batteries, storage, maintenance, and other costs that keep an existing camera operating.
View Sponsorship OptionsVolunteer With Us
Apply to help maintain a camera trap, collect community-science data, or support Carnivore Project activities in your area.
Apply to VolunteerReport Wildlife Activity
Community sightings and trail-camera records help expand the long-term dataset used to examine reported carnivore activity throughout the region.
Submit a SightingEvery form of participation matters.
Financial contributions, field assistance, wildlife observations, photographs, historical accounts, and community knowledge all help strengthen Carnivore Project’s public-service and research work.
Carnivore Project is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation.