FWC issues a call for volunteers to track endangered indigo snakes

Eastern indigo snake. USFWS photo

In support of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) efforts to reintroduce endangered eastern indigo snakes, the agency is seeking volunteers to help track the snakes’ activity and distribution.

The Indigo Snake Watch program allows people to classify digital trail camera photos of the snakes as they emerge from their enclosure at the Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in northwest Florida. The public can choose to classify as many or as few photos as they like.

The data collected by the program will be used by biologists to monitor the snakes’ success and distribution as they work to establish their long-term survival in the region.

“Everyone can help in the efforts to re-establish eastern indigo snake populations,” said Preserve Manager Catherine Ricketts. “Staff at the Preserve, which is part of TNC’s Center for Conservation Initiatives, are proud to have played a part in restoring this land, and now – after eight years of releasing the snakes at ABRP – we welcome the public to help track and monitor the snakes’ continued recovery.”

The eastern indigo snake has been reintroduced to the Florida panhandle after disappearing from the region decades ago. The Indigo Snake Watch program plays a vital role in monitoring the reintroduction efforts.

The Indigo Snake Watch is hosted on the Zooniverse platform, which is a free online scientific citizen project. Users can create free accounts and classify photos of the indigo snakes as they emerge from their enclosure. With consensus analysis, identifications will be combined with others to give biologists the most accurate understanding of indigo snake activity in these areas. Once the consensus is finalized, the data will be sent to biologists in all the involved organizations to help inform conservation and reintroduction efforts for the snakes.

Visit Zooniverse.org/Projects/FWC/Indigo-Snake-Watch​ to learn more.