2026 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Predictors for the Regional Presence of Snake River Plains Ground Squirrels

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-24-2026

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Jennyffer Cruz

Abstract

The Snake River Plains ground squirrel is a pivotal species for raptors in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. Our research project aims to determine what environmental predictors indicate the occupancy of ground squirrels. Soil and vegetation have historically been primary indicators for a habitat’s suitability for ground squirrels. 2024 Vegetation data from the Rangeland Analysis Platform and soil data from the gSSURGO database were compared against occupancy data collected by the Cruz lab. Occupancy data was collected throughout the NCA (north of the river) in spring of 2025, and a total of 114 sites were visited. Analysis was conducted in R utilizing a single season occupancy model, which directly compared the presence of ground squirrels against soil type and ground cover. We found no significance in the difference between vegetation types, but the results do support that ground squirrels prefer low shrub cover (>15%) and non-sandy soil, which is in line with prior findings both on this species and related groups.

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