Community Wildlife Connection Project

The Community Wildlife Connection project was made possible thanks to funding from a Community Enhancement Grant with the goal of developing a strategy for sharing information about the city's wildlife, fostering partnerships with local schools and community members, and engaging community members who are interested in supporting local wildlife. In August 2023, 6 remote cameras were installed around the City of Wilsonville to monitor wildlife activity. The 6 cameras are located at Memorial Park, Boones Ferry Park, Boones Ferry Primary school, Boeckman Creek Primary school, Boeckman Road “Dip”, and Boeckman Creek Trail. As of June 2024, 1,210 instances of wildlife activity from 14 different species have been observed and documented for this project. Species observed, in order of frequency include non-native squirrels, Columbian black-tailed deer, raccoon, opossum, coyote, rabbit, deer mice, Townsend’s chipmunk, bobcat, skunk, beaver, gray fox, vole, and river otter. 

Next steps for this project include using the data collected from the cameras to create an informative handout and summary slideshow of wildlife photos to help inform the community about the diversity and abundance of the city's wildlife. As community engagement plans are formed, the cameras located at Boones Ferry Primary school and Boeckman Creek Primary school may transition to being managed by associated teachers or Staff in support of student projects and engagement with monitoring efforts.

Gray fox (Urocyon cineroargenteus). Photo was taken by one of Wilsonville’s wildlife monitoring cameras located along Boeckman Road.

Columbian black-tailed deer fawn (Odocoileus hemionus ssp. columbianus). Photo was taken by one of Wilsonville’s wildlife monitoring cameras near Boeckman Creek Primary School.