fRI Research

With V-Day just passed, here's some Fisher (𝑃𝑒𝑘𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖) reproduction facts:
🧬 Mate in early spring
⏳ Delayed implantation ~10 months
🌸 Kits born ~1 year after mating
🍼 Females mate 7–10 days after giving birth, so they can be pregnant almost year-round

The LiDAR Work Continues: Part 2 - fRI Research

A BDA mimics a natural beaver dam. By holding more water on the landscape, they can increase available habitat for native westslope cutthroat trout and provide more reliable water for cattle grazing.
Read more here: friresearch.ca/news/the-lid...

Drone and Lidar equipment sitting on a road next to cow dung in the Sharples Creek watershed.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Last fall, we headed to southern AB to collect baseline data on a tributary of Sharples Creek. Here, Freshwater Conservation Canada will install beaver dam analogs (BDAs). Ever heard of these before?

Photo of Claire Allore from the Water and Fish Program with the quote, “I wanted a job that kept me outside and allowed me to protect the environments that I enjoyed. Science was a natural avenue for me.”

Photo of Arya Horon from the Caribou Program with the quote, “There are so many directions you can go within the field of science, so if something inspires you, chase it with all you've got.”

Photo of Kirsty Mcfayden from the Grizzly Bear Monitoring Program with the quote, “Science is an incredibly broad and rewarding discipline. Pursuing ecology in particular has taught me a lot about the natural world and myself.”

For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, three of our incredible biologists share their journey. This is their message to the next generation of women considering a career in science: friresearch.ca/news/interna...

#WomenInSTEM

ID quiz! Who's fluttering through the forest?

#TrailcamTuesday

Moose Research Initiative - fRI Research

🔗 Learn more: friresearch.ca/project/moos...

Infographic showing the 5 themes for the moose research initiative: 📊 Theme 1: Moose populations: Population’s size & trends relative to forest management & landscape conditions. 🧩 Theme 2: Range & connectivity: Moose summer & winter ranges in Alberta: habitat & connectivity. 🌡️Theme 3: Climate and Forest Management: How forest management & climate factors impact boreal ungulates. 🚁 Theme 4: Drones for Moose Surveys: Drones vs. traditional methods for ungulate population surveys. 🌲Theme 5: Forest management & Ungulates: How forest practices shape ungulate habitat and populations.

We’re asking new questions about moose in Alberta.

Launched in 2024, the Moose Research Initiative brings together multiple research themes to answer forest management questions and test emerging tools for monitoring moose and their habitat across the province. The initiative has five core themes.

Usually we have just one bear visit our sites. This time? It was a full family drop-in. #trailcamtuesday

YouTube video by fRI Research Who is fRI Research?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b41...

Update: Applications are now closed. Thank you to all who applied!

Know someone interested in ecology and wants to work outdoors? Please share these opportunities!

Do you know the nighttime #trailcam visitor?

👀 Drop your best guess below.

#trailcamtuesday

Employment Opportunity: 2026 Summer Field Technician - fRI Research

Help us collect data for research on grizzly bears, moose and caribou habitat, trout conservation, and stream health!

Apply by January 31. friresearch.ca/news/employm...

💵$22–25.75 depending on experience
🕔7–12 hours per day; 9 days on, 5 days off
📍Hinton
📅April 27 – August 31

#hiring

2025 Grizzly Bear Field Work | Part 1 - fRI Research

Grizzly bear field techs Sue and Sierra are recapping their summer in a new series of blog posts! Check out part 1 which covers training and their first shifts!

#FieldworkFriday

friresearch.ca/news/2025-gr...

Why did the grizzly never finish the movie? It kept hitting paws. 🐾⏸️
#DadJoke #TrailCamTuesday

Most people will never see a cougar in the wild. And that’s exactly how they like it. 🐾

A mother moose stands with two calves beside a tree wrapped with barbed wire used as a grizzly bear hair snag. The moose family is sniffing and exploring the site in a forested area.

One theme of our moose research is finding out what landcape conditions affect their population trends. #TrailcamTuesday

Grizzly Bear Program Wins ASTech Award - fRI Research

Gord Stenhouse, Karen Graham, and Terry Larsen accepted the 2025 ASTech Award in the environment and ecosystems category.

friresearch.ca/news/grizzly...

YouTube video by fRI Research The Grizzly Bear Habitat Project

Over 20 years ago, Scott Nielsen was a grad student studying grizzly bear habitat through our Grizzly Bear Program.

One thing stood out: grizzly bears were using regenerating harvest blocks. Now a prof at the U of A, Dr. Nielsen returns to find out why.

youtu.be/1vZX_KnCD9w?...

I presented my latest work on drone‑based surveys to estimate moose populations. Using simulations, we were able to:
- Compared various drone platforms
- Found that fixed‑wing drones equipped with a gimbal‑mounted camera provide a viable, safe alternative to conventional methods.
#TWS2025 #drone

TWS Journals Mountain pine beetle outbreaks and associated management alter habitat selection by large ungulates. Using GPS collar data, we found that caribou responses to beetle-affected, timber-harvested, and b...

Postdoc Laura Griffin collab'd w @lfinnegal.bsky.social @friresearch.bsky.social and analyzed telemetry data for caribou and moose in AB to show nuanced responses to forest disturbances from pine beetle, harvest & fire, including avoidance by caribou and female moose doi.org/10.1002/jwmg... (4/6)

Fall forecast: cooler temperatures, longer nights and 90% chance of bedtime snacks (because hibernation bodies don’t build themselves). #TrailcamTuesday

@irssubc.bsky.social

The LiDAR Work Continues - fRI Research

Check out this blog for the full story: friresearch.ca/news/the-lid...

Léna Mazuryk from Laval and Leanna Stackhouse from UBC are now analyzing the data to understand the effects on vegetation, temperature, and more.

A big thank-you to Chad Alexis and Josiah Clow of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation for sharing their expertise with the team!

Three researchers operate a drone in a post-fire landscape, surrounded by grasses and scattered burned trees under an open sky. Photo credit: Sadie Russell.

A drone sits on rocky ground beside a small stream, ready for takeoff. Photo credit: Leanna Stackhouse.

A drone controller screen displays an aerial view of a forested landscape with a winding stream below. Photo credit: Sadie Russell.

Three researchers walk along a grassy forest path, carrying field gear on their way to a new research site. Photo credit: Leanna Stackhouse.

How do different disturbances impact a stream and its riparian zone?
This August, a Water and Fish project used drones equipped with high resolution LiDAR and thermal sensors to survey 24 streams across four site types:
🌲 Forested
🔥 Fire-affected
🪵 Harvested
🏍️ OHV-impacted

arya horon behind a lectern giving two thumbs up

#tws2025 in a nutshell:

Arya Horon on a podium, behind a lectern, presenting on fine scale moose habitat selection and movement. A screen with a powerpoint is to her right.

Moose Madness #2: Fine scale moose habitat and movement with Arya Horon

#TWS2025

Caroline Lesage on a podium and behind a lectern presenting to an audience. A screen to her right has a slide titled moose in alberta with a photo, map, and other text.

Moose Madness #1: Population size and trends in Alberta with Caroline Lesage

I'm so delighted to encounter an unreconstructed prescriptivist with this kind of fervor that I won't screenshot any dictionary definitions. I hope there's another account dedicated to the elimination of "comprised of."