The goal of this project is to assess the feasibility of using drones to better monitor and manage mazama pocket gophers at the joint base lewis mcchord facilities including inaccessible areas of…

This Cooperative Agreement, awarded July 1, 2025, by the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657), provides $116,004.76 to Texas A&M AgriLife Research to assess and implement drone-based monitoring protocols for Mazama pocket gophers at Joint Base Lewis McChord facilities in Washington. The project comprises two primary objectives: evaluating the feasibility of drone-based survey methodologies against traditional gopher survey methods, and developing and implementing comprehensive drone-based survey protocols for surveying pocket gopher populations on the base's affected installation area (AIA), including previously inaccessible locations.

The cooperative agreement extends through December 31, 2026, and represents a research initiative to advance endangered species monitoring capabilities using emerging technology. By demonstrating the efficacy and applicability of unmanned aerial systems for gopher population assessment, the project aims to provide improved management tools for the federally threatened Mazama pocket gopher while establishing replicable protocols that may enhance species recovery efforts across Department of Defense installations and other relevant habitat areas.

The goal of this project is to assess the feasibility of using drones to better monitor and manage mazama pocket gophers at the joint base lewis mcchord facilities including inaccessible areas of the AIA. Specifically our project would consist of two objectives. These would include assessing the feasibility of drone based surveys against traditional mazama pocket gopher survey methods and following this assessment we would develop and implement drone based survey protocols to conduct comprehensive surveys of joint base lewis mcchord populations on the AIA.