PAYMENT FOR PRESENCE
Elk & Rural Conservation
Grizzly Systems drives impactful, on-the-ground conservation in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, while innovating scalable technology solutions for global biodiversity preservation for future generations.
Without creative actions to secure landscape protection these ancient animal movements and the integrity of the corridors they depend on could be lost forever.
Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) has teamed up with the non-profit arm of Grizzly Systems to assist working land owners who create habitat for wildlife.
Using advanced camera traps powered by artificial intelligence (AI) together with landowners’ innate knowledge of the land, this innovative program is the first of its kind in the region.
Brian Yablonski (PERC), Cody Goldhahn, Jeff Reed & Druska Kinke (Rancher)
Cody Goldhahn, CTO of GrizCam and a 5th generation rancher himself, knows the value of working lands for wildlife conservation, as well as the costs wildlife such as elk can create for ranchers. We are "all in" on this effort which is good for everyone: wildlife photographers, recreationalists, hunters, ranchers, and wildlife.
Paradise Valley Montana serves as an important wintering ground for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s iconic elk herds. As rapid development threatens wildlife habitat in the valley, ranchers and their large, open land holdings play a valuable role in maintaining ecosystem connectivity. Providing habitat, however, comes at a cost.
Rather than paying ranchers for predator losses as traditional livestock compensation programs do, PERC’s payments are based on the presence of elk to specifically mitigate elk-livestock conflict. The pilot program is designed to test the payment-for-presence system as well as the efficiency of artificial intelligence game cameras with continuous refinement. Managing these payments and proving that they are going to the goal is labor intensive. People need to put out camera traps, check batteries, and download data. But not with GrizCam which automates the process and also provides valuable services to ranchers by helping them monitor their property. Without GrizCam much of the funding from philanthropists and NGO's would go to labor costs to manage camera traps.
“Just like a pulmonary or circulatory system in the human body, if you have a blocked or clogged artery or obstructed breathing passage, you’re in trouble,” he says. “If these migration routes are going to persist, then protecting the pathways where they happen is essential.”
– Arthur Middleton, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Management and Policy, University of California – Berkeley
Contact us if you are interested in financially donating to this innovative conservation solution.
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