Friday, May 25, 2018

FIF Research Grant

Friends of the Island Fox is happy to announce 
the FIF Research Grant



The mission of Friends of the Island Fox (FIF) is to bring together conservation professionals and concerned private citizens to create public awareness about the island fox and to raise funds to support education, research and conservation measures to ensure the island fox's survival and protect its island home.

In 2018, Friends of the Island Fox is making $5,000 available in grant funding to researchers working on projects that align with our mission.

Applications will be accepted through July 15, 2018 and recipients will be notified September 1, 2018.



From diet fluctuation and territory use, to disease and longevity, there is much we still need to know about island foxes.


Your donations to Friends of the Island Fox
help make this research grant possible

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Recycling Island Fox Radio Collars


What can you do with a radio-tracking collar that looks like this?

Recycle it!

Across the Channel Islands, a select number of island foxes wear radio-tracking collars. See more about sentinel foxes. But radio collars have a limited lifespan. Their batteries last up to 36 months, then they need to be replaced. Refitting batteries, however, isn't like put new batteries in a flashlight. The waterproof and fox-proof casing has to be removed and refurbished in a workshop.

Friends of the Island Fox is happy to announce that our February fundraiser more than met our goal to fund the recycling of radio collars for Channel Islands National Park. 

Thanks to your donations 
FIF is refurbishing all 20 of the radio collars 
that CINP planned to recycle in 2018


"The collars will get new antennas, new casings, new batteries, new bands, and/or any other new parts that may be necessary," says Laura Shaskey, Wildlife Biologist at Channel Islands National Park. "They will be completely rebuilt, however intact components will be re-used. As you can see the previously used collars are in very poor shape, chewed up, and are often missing antenna."

courtesy of K. Schafer
Another important benefit of recycling radio collars is the reusing of established bandwidths of radio frequency. In our high-tech wireless world, more and more radio frequencies are being gobbled up for human devices. Fewer radio frequencies are available for wildlife tracking equipment. Recycling collars and reusing pre-established radio-collar frequencies is a smart use of physical and audio resources.


As Shaskey points out, "Refurbishing collars is an efficient cost-effective method to replace collars, so they are as good as new for monitoring another fox for the next three years."


Because recycling a radio collar costs less, FIF was also able to purchase 5 new radio collars for use in Channel Islands National Park.



25 radio tracking collars that will be placed on island foxes 
this season because of your donations!

"Thanks again for all your support with collar purchases this year! It is a great help!" - Laura Shaskey

Friday, May 04, 2018

Who Is On San Miguel Island?


It's spring on San Miguel Island and wildlife technicians are counting one of the species important to island foxes. Can you guess which one?

Follow along with the Channel Island National Park team as they document 1 second a day on San Miguel Island.



Find out more about the island fox and this other island animal

Discover new observations of this animal interacting with bald eagles 

A huge thank you to the wildlife technicians at Channel Islands National Park for sending FIF this glimpse into their days on San Miguel.