Dr. John Cavitt and students from the Avian Ecology Lab at Weber State University have been helping to monitor nest success of several species including American avocets, black-necked stilts, and snowy plovers. For more information on this project, check out the Shorebird Monitoring page.

Our partners at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are researching mercury contamination in waterbirds and shorebirds, and for the past several years have been monitoring species on the Refuge as part of the study.  For more information, see our USGS Partnership page.

Phragmites, or common reed, is an invasive species taking over many of the Refuge wetlands and which can be very difficult to get rid of. Research is being done on effectiveness of many treatment methods of Phragmites on the Refuge. For more information on this research, see our Phragmites Research page.

Water quality within the Bear River watershed is extremely important, and the Utah Division of Water Quality partners with the Refuge to monitor and maintain water quality for wildlife and people.  You can learn more about this project on our Utah DWQ Partnership page or the Utah Division of Water Quality website.

Several other monitoring efforts, including bird surveys, vegetation surveys and grazing monitoring are conducted by Refuge biological staff. For information on other Refuge monitoring projects, see our Other Monitoring page.