The trails we share: using camera traps to track how people and wildlife coexist

In British Columbia’s South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, WWF scientist Robin Naidoo has spent the past eight years using hidden cameras to quietly capture how people and wildlife—like bears, wolves, and mountain goats—share the same trails. The study uses a constellation of 70 cameras around the park and has collected thousands of images of people and wildlife using the same spaces at different times. From bear cubs, mountain lions, and mule deer, to thousands of photos of bikers and hikers, the pictures depict how human recreation and wildlife movement overlap.

“It’s amazing how often these trails are used by larger wildlife like bears, moose, and mountain lions, and the cameras have also recorded over 50 species of birds,” Naidoo said. “It’s all an example of coexistence—even if people are unaware it is happening.”

Naidoo was inspired to place cameras after he had set up a few nearby on his own property. He was blown away by the number of species he saw. It made him wonder how human behavior was influencing the surrounding wildlife, since the wildlife effectively stayed out of sight. Even though they were present, they were inconspicuous.

Methods for setting up the cameras

Naidoo deployed most of the cameras in late May and early June of 2018, just as the snow began to melt in the high elevation terrain. They’ve remained active ever since and are checked once in the spring and once at the end of September, when SIM cards are retrieved from the cameras. The cameras are positioned on trees about three feet above trail level, allowing detection of a wide range of terrestrial wildlife. Over time the long-term study has continued to bring up questions.

• How is wildlife changing behavior based on human behavior?
• What are some of the population trends we are seeing through the camera trap data?
  

Long-term studies are vital to conservation

Over the years, data from these images has fueled a variety of research from testing how camera trap data complements the collection of environmental DNA—DNA naturally shed by animals through their hair, feces, saliva, and skin and collected in water, soil, snow, and air—to revealing how land is shared among people and wildlife. While there is always a strong pull toward spotlighting new findings, it’s critical to invest in studies that span years, even decades. Longevity is a defining strength. Long-term studies allow us not only to answer current questions but to uncover new ones, adapt our approaches, and inform future research.

Conservation is a long game. Building a knowledge base that can influence policy, management, and protection efforts depends on steady, consistent scientific collection over time.

Looking to the future

Naidoo’s work highlights a broader, emerging reality that while people and wildlife coexist, it’s increasingly on human terms.

The patchwork of photos over time continues to deepen the understanding of the park’s value, its inhabitants, and also the use of space. This local project reflects a bigger trend scientists are seeing around the world: as more people head outdoors, wild animals are adjusting their behavior to avoid us, sometimes in ways that could hurt their ability to thrive. Naidoo’s work at WWF adds to a growing body of evidence that while we can coexist with wildlife, doing so well means understanding and respecting their presence, even when we can’t see it.