Mist-Netting Barns

A fun and favorite bat project included mist-netting barns in the Midwest to document potential colony use. The goal of the project is protecting and preserving barns that are being used as roosts for threatened and endangered species.  #WESTCelebratesBatWeek #BatConservation #BatWeek Check out our careers page to learn more about our available bat biologist positions: […]

Northern Long-Eared Bat Tracking

Another favorite project was on Cape Cod, where WEST staff caught a northern long-eared bat and tracked it to a cedar siding house where it was roosting under the siding. The owners of the house were retired school teachers who thought that the bat roosting at their house was super neat, and enjoyed joining us […]

Foraging Telemetry on Bats

A favorite WEST project is capturing and conducting foraging telemetry on migratory bat species such as the eastern red bat and hoary bat. This is to learn more about foraging behaviors and movement patterns throughout the night.  #WESTCelebratesBatWeek

WEST Sponsors Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute Webinar

In support of local engagement – and WEST’s commitment to our corporate social responsibility and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives – WEST is proud to sponsor the upcoming Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute webinar “Transformational Climate Resilience: Advancing Systems Change to Achieve Liberty and Justice for ALL” presented by Jacqueline Patterson. The Environmental Resilience Institute is working […]

WEST and DOE Offshore Grant

WEST is excited to lead an ongoing research and development grant from the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office for A Multi-Sensor Approach for Measuring Bird and Bat Collisions with Offshore Wind Turbines (DE-EE0008734). Senior Research Biologist Dr. Jennifer Stucker is in Maine working with research associates Nathan Dubrow and Olivia Jolley from […]

WEST Sharp-Tailed Grouse Study

WEST biologists have partnered with Scout Clean Energy and South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks to study sharp-tailed grouse behavior relative to a wind energy facility. The comprehensive study entails capturing sharp-tailed grouse and tracking them via GPS technology for the life of the bird. The grouse will be monitored for three years to estimate survival, […]

Welcome Natasha Johnson

WEST welcomes Natasha Johnson to our Calgary, Alberta office. Natasha is Professional Biologist with over 13 years of experience specializing in regulatory requirements for the oil and gas industry within Alberta, as well as aquatic, terrestrial assessments and regulatory components for renewable, municipal and civil projects. She has conducted fish population and fish habitat assessments, […]

WEST Publication: Sage-grouse and Sagebrush Songbirds Don’t Agree on Quality Habitat

WEST Research Biometrician Dr. Jason Carlisle is the lead author on a recently published study examining how beneficial sage-grouse conservation might be for songbird species of concern that also live in sagebrush ecosystems. Conservation actions to benefit sage-grouse are often focused in areas with high abundance of sage-grouse, under the assumption that other species occur […]

WEST Bat Services

The WEST team is leading research, monitoring, and conservation planning surrounding bats. This includes investigating new methods of bat monitoring such as landscape-level habitat monitoring, the US Geological Survey-approved North American Bat Monitoring Program protocol, utilization of drones, in acoustic surveys, and the use of detection dogs in bat fatality searches. #WESTCelebratesBatWeek