As part of its ongoing porcupine and beaver studies, Aton Forest has enlisted citizen scientists this year to help monitor beaver lodges and porcupine dens. Here, John Anderson, executive director of Aton Forest, standing, invites a participant to sniff the vent at the top of the lodge for the odor of castoreum, the beaver’s scent gland. The results were inconclusive, and the dominant odor was judged to be pond bottom. Aton Forest also conducts winter bird counts and breeding bird surveys. Send queries about the citizen-scientist program to contact@atonforest.org.

Photo by Bruce Frisch.