Sand Skink Monitoring Project

The 2025 season is right around the corner! We have multiple properties where sand skinks are present; permanent monitoring points are distributed throughout each of these properties for data collection every year. Each monitoring station gets coverboards set out and data is collected once per week for eight consecutive weeks, beginning in April and ending in May. Attached is our survey protocol as well as an image of how we lay out our coverboards. Due to the number of sites with monitoring stations, we divide our staff/volunteers into teams. We typically schedule monitoring to occur every Thursday morning beginning at 7am (this is when all teams meet at the office and gather into county trucks for travel to their respective site(s)). Teams are usually done by 11am-12pm at the latest. We are mindful of spatial/temporal factors, and we aim to keep survey efforts balanced as well as accommodate volunteer needs to the best of our ability.