(BIRDS CHIRPING)

KELSEY KING: Got one first trap.

ANDY CAVEN: Did we?

KELSEY KING: Yeah.

ANDY CAVEN: Excellent, thatís a good sign. Sex, female. Adult. Gravid. Pregnant.

ANDY CAVEN: What do you got?

KELSEY KING: White-footed or deer mouse.

KELSEY KING: So, we do small mammal trapping because we want to do long-term monitoring, and what that means is we have to look at all sorts of different biological components to figure out whatís happening on the prairie.

KELSEY KING: So, first step, open the traps, make sure that they are set right. They have to be just the right amount of tension where if a small mammal steps on the plate fully with its whole weight, the trap closes. So, we set those traps. You just lay them in the grass. Find a good spot where you think a small mammal might be running through, and then you bait it. You get a small handful, throw it mostly in the back with a little trail leading out. Itís kind of like a little advertisement to get inside and spend the night there. We use a bait of sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and oats. And this is similar to what you would find naturally in the prairie.
And then you leave. You leave the area, you know, hopefully before sunset. And overnight, youíre going to get shrews and voles and other rodents hanging out in the area, getting inside the traps. And theyíre going to spend the night there, and in the morning youíll go one by one, check each trap, see if thereís anybody inside, and if there is we figure out whatís their sex, what their species is. Are they a deer mouse? Are they a white-footed mouse? Are they a prairie vole or meadow vole? Then you let them go. And once youíre done youíll have all the traps in your trap bag and carry them back and clean them out.

KELSEY KING: We have some of the largest tracts of prairie life left anywhere in the United States, and thatís a really important thing. To lose that is a really bad thing for our legacy.  We donít want to be the ones who lost the prairie. Who donít have any idea what was here before.

(MUSIC)

KELSEY KING: Itís really important just for everyone to pay attention to whatís out here. Because you learn about lions and tigers and bears from all over the world, but whatís really cool is the wildlife thatís right here in your own backyard.

(CRANES CRYING)