Long term monitoring is crucial for understanding patterns of change in ecosystems at local, regional and state wide scales. Understanding the effects of climate change at multiple spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales can support adaptive land management decisions and inform long term goals and strategies for conserving California’s biodiversity. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is working with several partners to establish a Climate Biodiversity Sentinel Site Network to monitor ecosystems and wildlife on public and private lands. In this ongoing and growing effort, CDFW has established 39 sentinel sites on select Wildlife Areas and Ecological Reserves across the state. Each sentinel site hosts or will host a research grade weather station, four terrestrial wildlife monitoring plots with cameras and acoustic sensors, and a Motus wildlife tracking station. Resulting data is processed with multiple automated and machine learning tools and will allow scientists to evaluate links between climate change and its effects on local species and ecosystems. This presentation will include data collected during the 2023 field season and preliminary data collected in the 2024 field season.

Phillip Smith joined the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in January 2022 and has been working with the Sentinel Site Network project since January 2023. He received a degree in Environmental Conservation from American River College and has a BA in English from California State University Sacramento. He has experience working in conservation and restoration and has a passion for the natural world and assisting in further understanding and conserving natural lands and the biodiversity within.