ESA used two techniques to establish the presence and distribution of the California and federally endangered salt marsh harvest mouse prior to restoration and enhancement of a large San Francisco Bay Area tidal marsh. The first technique was live trapping with Sherman traps to capture and mark mice and the second technique used bait stations to collect small rodent fecal pellets for eDNA analysis. This presentation will discuss the benefits and constraints of each survey approach in general, and the results of applying both techniques at a single survey site.

Erika Walther is a senior wildlife biologist at Environmental Science Associates who lends her technical expertise to support land conservation, mitigation, and restoration projects in coastal salt marsh and vernal pool grassland ecosystems in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley. She holds U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits for salt marsh harvest mouse, California tiger salamander, and vernal pool fairy shrimp and tadpole shrimp. Erika is a former TWS San Francisco Bay Area Chapter president and currently enjoys co-hosting the TWS Western Section podcast with Ivan Parr and Lizzie Meisman.