Vent screens save cavity dwellers - Overview
CPW’s Resource Stewardship Program works to conserve the wildlife and cultural resources within Colorado’s state parks. When the team received reports of park rangers rescuing owls stuck in vault toilets, they knew action was needed. Although the efforts of the park rangers saved numerous owls from these deep, messy vaults, the overarching problem remained: owls and other cavity-nesting species were getting stuck in toilets by flying into open vent pipes.
Why Is This Project Important?
Owls and other raptors are vital components of their ecosystems. As top predators, raptors are indicators of the health of the habitats in which they live. Healthy raptor populations benefit the species in these habitats by helping to keep populations of key species from growing too large.
Many owls take shelter in cavities in trees and rocks and they can confuse openings in man-made structures with natural cavities. Once they’ve entered the deep vent pipes of a vault toilet, they’re unable to fly back out of these narrow openings, trapping them inside. This situation can also impact woodpeckers, bluebirds, lizards and other cavity dwellers.
What Is CPW Doing?
Rather than checking each toilet and open-vent structure for wildlife each day, the team started a project to proactively place screens on each vault’s vent pipe so that wildlife couldn’t find its way into the vaults.
The Teton Raptor Center’s “
Poo-Poo Project” produces metal screens for exactly this purpose, and our resource stewardship team took on the purchasing and distribution of vent screens to make sure that Colorado’s state parks had access to this simple wildlife conservation tool. The team also partnered with the CPW Capital Construction team so that vent screens are included in all new installations of vault toilets on CPW properties. These actions have saved numerous wild animals from unnecessary accidents each year.
