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Noah Perlut, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, was featured on the front page of the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier’s March 23 issue. The article discussed a study that Perlut launched in anticipation of a construction project, known as “Close the Gap,” scheduled to begin in 2018, that will finalize a 1.6 mile gap of the 65-mile portion of the Eastern Trail in Scarborough.

Perlut’s study, titled “GapTracks,” will collect data about wildlife behavior in the “gap” area by capturing footage of animals with special cameras capable of withstanding extreme conditions. The eight cameras are mounted at the bases of trees and run 24 hours a day, relying on infrared technology in the dark to record wildlife activity. Perlut and about 40 undergraduate students will collect the data from the cameras over a three-year period spanning the current pre-construction phase, the construction phase and post-construction phase.

The researchers will analyze the data and examine how the construction impacts the wildlife community. The types of species using the trail and the number of animals using the trail are just two of many factors that students will consider when comparing animal behavior pre- and post-construction. At the conclusion of the study, Perlut’s students will present their findings to high schoolers at Scarborough High.

“In an ideal world, the trail will not decrease wildlife use, and in some ways will actually facilitate wildlife use in this area, because it’s going to be creating two bridges, so wildlife, in an ideal world, will use those bridges to cross between habitats,” Perlut explained. “If it doesn’t do that, and it negatively impacts wildlife, we can ask, what are the reasons they are negatively impacted? Is it the time of use? Is it night use? Is it dogs off leash?... Is it because there’s illegal motorized vehicles on the trail? Is there just no explanation, and it’s just a fact of human abundance?”

Perlut said that the cameras have already captured a myriad of animals, including wood ducks, gray foxes, a red fox, raccoon, gray squirrel and a coyote.

The study is funded by �Թϱ��� and Friends of Scarborough Marsh, with support from the Eastern Trail Alliance, the town of Scarborough and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.

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