Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) is nestled in eastern Los Angeles County, California surrounded by hillsides and large mountain ranges to the north and to the south. Aside from the typical college campus environment you would find, CPP is unique to have a mosaic of agricultural lands and a preserve right outside our building doors. With those open spaces, comes wildlife.

In the project CPP Wild, students in non-majors Biology courses take part in a semester long project where they get to study the wildlife that call Cal Poly Pomona home.

Student setting up a remote camera trap on the Voorhis Ecological Preserve at Cal Poly Pomona.

In the project CPP Wild, students in non-majors Biology courses take part in a semester long project where they get to study the wildlife that call Cal Poly Pomona home. The project began in Spring 2022 and has continued since giving over 3000 students the opportunity to experience the wild animals of the campus.

Students use Zooniverse to identify the animals within photos captured through camera traps placed at the Voorhis Ecological Preserve on campus. They then use the data generated to ask a question about a particular species of interest. Since its start, the project has evolved to include students within different courses in the biology curriculum including Mammalogy and Ecology.

Students enrolled in the non-majors Biology course on a tour of the Voorhis Ecological Preserve at Cal Poly Pomona.

If you’re interested in starting a similar project on your campus, please reach out to the CPP Wild team and follow our camera trap adventures on Instagram at ortizlab_cpp to learn more!

California Mule Deer captured by camera trap on the Voorhis Ecological Preserve at Cal Poly Pomona.

Written By: Janel Ortiz (Associate Professor, Cal Poly Pomona)