Our Mission: To promote the conservation and appreciation of birds and other wildlife through education, outreach and habitat stewardship.
General Information:
In keeping with our mission, Laramie Audubon Society (LAS) offers small grants for conservation and outreach. Conservation grants include conservation and restoration projects as well as scientific research. Outreach grants support projects that increase knowledge and appreciation for birds, other wildlife, and habitats. There are no geographic restrictions for projects, although we focus on funding projects in Wyoming. Travel to conferences is not considered to be either "conservation" or "outreach" and therefore is not typically funded under the LAS Small Grants Program.
Grants are awarded for $500 and are reviewed bi-annually. Deadlines are March 31 for summer/fall grants and October 31 for winter/spring grants. Notifications will be sent out within 4 to 6 weeks.
Guidelines for Applicants:
Applications should be no more than 3 pages (single-spaced and 12-point font, including references) and must include the following:
- Name and contact information for applicant(s)
- Project title
- Purpose of project
- Project description (including methods and expected outcomes or products)
- Timeline for completion
- Explanation of how the grant money will be spent
- Statement of project relevance to LAS
- If any permits or landowner permission are required, include a statement as to their status.
- Applicants under 18 years of age must have an adult sponsor and the sponsor must provide a statement of endorsement to LAS separately (either email or snail mail).
- If the project is not completed due to unforeseen circumstances, the recipient will submit receipts for the portion of the grant spent and reimburse LAS for the unused portion of the grant.
- If the project is not carried out according to the proposed project description, the grantee may be required to reimburse the full grant amount.
- A two-to-three paragraph (non-scientific) report, suitable for publication in our quarterly newsletter, is to be submitted within six months of the termination date specified.
- A public seminar is to be presented at a monthly LAS meeting within 6 months of the termination date specified.
- LAS is to be acknowledged as a supporting organization in any publications resulting from the research, and copies of the publications are to be sent to us.
Checks will be written to the applicant unless specified otherwise.
Please submit proposals in MS Word or PDF format to: laramie.audubon@gmail.com
Questions should be addressed to laramie.audubon@gmail.com
Fall 2024
Julia Cristina Salvador Maldonado is a PhD student in Department of Ecosystem Science & Management. Maldonado’s research topic “Enhancing Wyoming toad recovery through disease mitigation: bolstering individual disease resistance mechanisms through immunization and probiotics” aims to discover if Wyoming toads that have been naturally exposed to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd allowing the growth of chytrid fungus usually resulting in the death of the amphibian can be mitigated. The infected toads will be treated with itraconazole, an antifungal treatment, clearing the animals of Bd, hopefully enhancing resistance to future Bd infection. Maldonado will also attempt to identify items naturally occurring in the microbial community associated with Bd resistance for further experimental testing. It is hoped that selected probiotic bacteria will reduce Bd infection rates and improve the overall health and survival of Wyoming toads.
Audrey Lindsteadt University of Wyoming PhD Student Dept. of Zoology & Physiology, Program in Ecology & Evolution. Lindsteadt’s grant titled “Bug Day: Fostering Laramie’s Aquatic Biodiversity Awareness and Conservation of Sensitive Aquatic Ecosystems” will continue her second year of public outreach work exposing the Laramie community in learning about and appreciating our aquatic biodiversity. This public outreach will show adults and children how to sample survey this local environment and identify found macroinvertebrates and fish. Lindsteadt will also talk to participants about aquatic conservation and share interesting facts about the recovered insects.
Fall 2022
The Laramie High School Outdoor
Adventure Knowledge (OAK) Club requested funds to support the club's primary
focus: helping students and faculty discover the wildlife and topography of the
Laramie area. The OAK Club will have students and faculty invest time at Hutton
Lake National Wildlife Refuge and the Pilot Hill Recreation Area to develop and
strengthen a sense of connection to these places. A long-term goal is to create
a credited science/English hybrid summer class that places students into the
environment, confidently identifying species, and creating long term reportable
data. The LAS grant money will be used
to purchase binoculars and additional bird identification books as they have
only one at the present time.
Erik Schoenborn is a Master’s student at
the University of Wyoming in the Department of Zoology &
Physiology and a Graduate Research Assistant. Eric’s grant will supplement work on his research
topic Fitness outcomes of habitat selection trade-offs for a
declining bird in an altered landscape. This project, begun
in 2022, will continue the into the second field season studying causes of
declines in Loggerhead Shrike populations . The first year of the
study researched shrike habitat selection in relation to trade-offs related to
nest predation and food availability at both undisturbed and anthropogenic
altered landscapes. This season will study investigate migratory and over
winter locations of these birds to determine whether there are areas along this
yearly cycle that could explain population declines. The LAS grant
will enable the project to purchase a mist net, overlapping color bands, and
banding pliers to aid in accessing factors that may limit this population
outside of the breeding season.
Don Jones is a Master’s student, in the Chalfoun
Lab, Department of Zoology and Physiology Wyoming Cooperative Wildlife Research
Unit at the University of Wyoming. Don’s grant will supplement work on his
research topic Infection rates and effects of ectoparasites on
declining sagebrush songbirds. Don has finished the first of two
field seasons studying the infection rate by blow flies of various songbird
species nestling growth, physical condition and post fledging survival to
understand whether this parasitic load is influenced by weather patterns and/or
the anthropogenic disturbances associated with southwestern Wyoming energy
development. The LAS grant will enable the project to purchase additional CTT PowerTags to track post-fledgling
survival rates of sagebrush songbirds effected by this parasitism.
Spring 2022
Kelsie Buxbaum is a master's student working as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Haub School of Environment & Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. The title of the grant Ecology of a Sensitive Species, Yet Expanding Population: Examining the Conservation Success of Swift Fox in Wyoming proposes to study westward expansion of the Swift fox, a federally listed sensitive species. The three year study will analyze two areas of known habitation one within the previously defined short grass prairie ecosystem and the other in the expanded shrubland ecosystem. Diet, prey availability, use of space and movement, survival, and reproductive success will be compared in these two areas.
Erin Stewart is a master’s student in the Department of Zoology & Physiology at the University of Wyoming. The grant titled Applying Remote Bioacoustics Monitoring Technology to Quantify Biodiversity Patterns Across a Precipitation-Fragmentation Gradient in Central Panama proposes using passive acoustic monitoring and acoustic diversity across different sized fragmented habitats and precipitation gradients to study changes in avian spatial patterning through daily, monthly, and seasonally changes. This acoustic monitoring will also look for evidence of breeding locations and indicate migration patterns.
Rachel Arrick is a PhD student in the Ecosystem
Science and Management Department at the University of Wyoming. The grant titled Informing microbiome-based
conservation strategies for amphibian disease: locating Bd-inhibitory bacteria
associated with the federally-endangered Wyoming toad (Anaxyrus baxteri) proposes studying the Wyoming Toad and its relationship to “Chytridiomycosis
(“chytrid”). This amphibian disease enters
the toad by way of a fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd)”. The
study will search for microbiomes or symbiont microbes in the environment that
may inhibit or aid in clearing Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis from the toads
either as a probiotic treatment prior to release or acquired by the toad from
the environment. The grant will study
the cutaneous bacterial loads of Wyoming Toads both in the captive breeding
programs and in their natural settings to help identify which bacteria may be
more beneficial.
Fall 2021
Mason Lee a Senior Project Coordinator at the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute in a project titled Laramie Salamander Migration Initiative, proposes is to study migrating tiger salamanders surrounding their breeding pond at LaBonte pond in Laramie, Wyoming. In association with this study Lee will work to raise awareness in our community of the tiger salamander’s annual migration and aid the salamanders as they cross the surrounding roadways. Mason Lee will also study the mechanics of this population’s migration and dispersal while attempting to estimate the local amphibian’s population. This study will include educating the public about the value of native species and the importance of protecting their habitats in this urban population of a species of greatest conservation need.Kathryn Davis a University of Wyoming PhD Student in Ecology proposed a project titled Beaver, Diversity, and Connectivity Relationships in Greater Yellowstone. Davis will conduct work in Yellowstone National Park to “test if beaver-mediated habitat changes facilitate greater species richness, genetic diversity, and functional connectivity in amphibian communities” and whether “genetic patterns in beaver are concordant with patterns in the amphibians because of parallel evolution”. Davis, will attempt to understand whether “beaver wetland modification increase species (particularly amphibian) richness and diversity in the GYE? How does beaver activity impact genetic diversity within wetland-dependent amphibian species? How does ecosystem engineer mediated landscape change facilitate connectivity in dependent species? (And) How do patterns of diversity and connectivity in an ecosystem engineer (environment) compare to those found in dependent species?”
Spring 2021 - no small grants were requested or awarded.
2020
Katrina Cook, University of Wyoming Master’s student is conducting research titled “Habitat selection and quality of an isolated amphibian population in Wyoming”. Cook will study the Wood Frog in the Medicine Bow National Forest to help determine which macro- and micro-habitat preferences are sought out by isolated frog populations and whether these environments have any relationship between its chytrid status and this habitat use. Emily Shertzer, University of Wyoming PhD student in the Department of Zoology and Physiology is conducting research titled “Carry-over effects of human-induced habitat change in migratory songbirds”. The research will study three sagebrush-obligate songbirds (Brewer’s sparrow, sagebrush sparrow, and sage thrasher and their habitats during their yearly life cycle. The two yearly stages are nestling to post-fledging, and post-fledging survival to the over-wintering period. The research will study how one life stage can effect a subsequent life stage and whether any declines in these stage can be mitigated. The research area located south of Pinedale will survey a gradient of lands modified by gas development to adjacent unmodified lands.Fall 2019
The second Laramie Audubon’s Small Grant was awarded to Chelsea Duball, University of Wyoming Ph.D. student in the Dept. Ecosystem Science and Management. For this grant work will continue on ways of identifying Hydric Soils located at semi-arid land wetlands. Duball indicates “wetlands in the semi-arid western US are especially valuable for providing ecosystem services including critical habitat for rare and endangered species, water filtration and storage, and flood abatement. Drainage or disturbance of these areas and climate warming could dramatically alter these wetland locations”. The grant application states research this season will occur along “Laramie River at Paradise Farm (part of the UWYO system), and four floodplain soil study sites in New Mexico (NM), Colorado (CO), Utah (UT) and California (CA), in coordination with the USDA-NRCS”.
Spring 2019
Project title: Resource availability as a driver of behaviorally- mediated trophic cascades:experimental tests of puma-guanaco interactions in Patagonia
Recipient: Francisco Molina, Ph.D student in Zoology and Physiology and the Program in Ecology at UW
Description: Research grant. Francisco's research seeks to understand the ecological conditions under which predation risk by pumas alters the behavior of guanacos in a way that positively impacts vegetation. This research will take place on the Patagonian slope of western Argentina, but may shed light on how predation risk by pumas may alter herbivore behavior and thus influence vegetation right here in Wyoming.
Recipient: Ashleigh Rhea, M.S. student in Zoology and Physiology at UW
Description: Research grant. Ashleigh's research seeks to understand the impacts of competition with and predation by deer mouse on sagebrush songbird repro- ductive success. This research will take place near the Pinedale Anticline Project Area in western Wyoming.
Project title: Near, far, wherever you are: Comparing species niche, connectivity, and disease on rarity type
Recipient: Melanie Torres, PhD student in Ecosystem Science and Management at UW
Description: Melanie's research will test if the rarity of various amphibian species predicts their ecological niche and the connectivity among populations. This work will also examine the impact of a fungal pathogen on the ecological niche and population connectivity of these species. Fieldwork will take place in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado.
Recipients: Jeffrey Lockwood, Anne Guzzo, and Ashley Carlisle (all University of Wyoming professors)
Description: Outreach grant. The opera is set up as an "environmental murder mystery" wherein an entomologist seeks to understand the natural history and ultimate extinction of the once abundant Rocky Mountain locust.
Project title: South Laramie Youth Garden
Recipients: Claire Ratcliffe, Founding Director of GROWyoming, LLC (Growing Real Opportunities for Wyoming)
Description: Outreach grant. Teaming up with High Plains Biochar to build a youth garden in a mobile home community in south Laramie (on Howe Rd.). In addition to teaching kids basic gardening skills, they will also hold weekly educational and art projects in the garden (from June - October) that all children in the community are invited to free of charge.
Project title: Linking soil ecology with vegetation management to optimize restoration efforts of ponderosa pine after wild- fires
Recipients: Stephanie Winters, M.S. student in soil science at UW
Description: Research grant. Research will focus on determining what management practices are best for improving soil microbiology and ultimately ponderosa pine restoration after severe wildfire. Research will be conducted in the Laramie Mountains in the area of the 2012 Arapaho Fire.
Paul Dougherty is another graduate student at the University of Wyoming and is interested in avian hybrid zones. He wants to investigate factors that may allow for the maintenance of distinct species identities when hybridization occurs. For his dissertation research, Paul has proposed studying how hybrids may be disadvantaged when parental species differ with respect to molt schedules and migratory routes. He will use LAS funding to construct Emlen funnels, temporary holding structures that allow for the identification of an individual bird’s migratory orientation. Paul currently plans on using Emlen funnels to compare the orientations of Baltimore Orioles, Bullock’s Orioles, and their hybrids. He hopes to demonstrate how differences in traits not directly related to reproduction within a given breeding season can play a role in maintaining divergence between hybridizing species by reducing hybrid fitness.
Larry Hicks of the Little Snake River Conservation District was awarded an LAS small grant in support for the Muddy Creek Wetland project. This effort is aimed at combating the loss of wetland and riparian habitat across the west and is responsible for the largest man-made wetland in Wyoming. Located just north of Baggs, Muddy Creek provides vital habitat for breeding birds, migrants from both the Pacific and Central Flyways, and resident species in a landscape otherwise devoid of year-round water sources. Larry boasts an impressive list of funding partners, including Ducks Unlimited and the Bureau of Land Management. He will incorporate LAS support to enhance and expand wetland habitat at Muddy Creek. We look forward to learning more about Larry’s work at Muddy Creek thanks to the area’s potential for birding, research, and outreach.
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| Banding Mountain Plovers in Thunder Basin NG. Photo from C. Duchardt |
Spring 2017: Support for Courtney Duchardt, a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying habitat use and movement patterns of Mountain Plover both in Thunder Basin National Grassland and range-wide.
Support for Rebecca Upjohn, a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying the effects of Russian-olive removal on native shrub species.
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| Gabe Barille removing a radio transmitter from a boreal toad. Photo by L. Sanders |
Fall 2016: Support for Gabe Barille, a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying the effects of disease and livestock grazing on boreal toads in western Wyoming.
Support for Jesse Alston, a graduate student developing a podcast to communicate research at the University of Wyoming to the broader listening public. Check out his podcast, Field Notes, here on Soundcloud or wherever you download your podcasts!
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| Rachel Fannelli and Sarah Daniels tabling for the UW Racoon Project. Photo from R. Fanelli. |
Spring 2016: Support for Joanna Harter, a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying the effects of wetland ephemerality on avian diversity in the Prairie Potholes Region (Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas).
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| Andy Gygli, swabbing a frog in the field. Photo from A. Gygli |
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| Kurt Smith collaring a sage-grouse. Photo from K. Smith |
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| Brewer's sparrow nestlings, ready to fledge. Photo by L. Sanders |
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| Greater sage-grouse. Photo by Phil Douglass |
Fall 2013: Support for Beth Fitzpatrick, a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying the effects of landscape change on Greater Sage-Grouse in the Bighorn and Powder River basins.
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| Wildlife observation blind at Hutton NWR. Photo from LAS |
Spring 2013: support to Heath Haggerty and his Eagle Scout Troop for the construction of a bird-watching and photography blind at Hutton Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (completed Oct 2013)
An animal lover like you is a true champion for the voiceless, spreading love and compassion to all creatures big and small.
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