By Megan Finnerty
Features Editor

On the way to Cunningham Forest, 30 minutes from Purdue, Jake Goheen, a graduate student, waxes philosophical on Pearl Jam as he removes one of his many bootlegged Pearl Jam CDs from his truck's stereo.

Even on an excursion to check his humane traps for red squirrels, there's more to Goheen than a green bucket of walnuts, a thermos of Marsh crunchy peanut butter and tackle box of radio transmitter collars.

At first glance, Goheen studies red squirrels, a small red-furred squirrel indigenous to Michigan, which has successfully expanded its territory throughout Indiana.

But, as he's quick to point out, he actually studies much more. Goheen is using the red squirrel to answer broader ecological questions that are becoming increasingly important as man continues to encroach on animals' habitats.

Rob Swihart, a professor in the department of forestry and natural resources and Goheen's adviser, said Goheen's research goes beyond squirrels.

"Humans change a lot on this planet and species react to those changes," he said. "It would be nice if we could anticipate how they're going respond so we can better plan for any negative consequences … and so we can see if those proposed changes are really in our long term best interest."

Goheen has known he wanted to work with animals since he was about 6 years old and used to catch his pets — turtles, snakes and lizards, the first of which was an ornate box turtle named Rufus. He used to watch animals living around his house in Topeka, Kan., when he was little. Goheen is still sitting out in the woods watching animals, except now he's a researcher.

He's trying to discover how the red squirrels are expanding their habitat while it's being fractured by human encroachment. He's looking at what enables the animals to move between forests even though other species such as wolf and black bear died in Indiana because of human encroachment; they couldn't adapt. Goheen is also studying how the red squirrel's habitat expansion has affected gray squirrels and how red squirrels have or have not altered their behavior to their new surroundings.

Once in the woods, Goheen finds what he was looking for. A red squirrel has stored dozens of walnuts in the hulk of a rotted tree, the same way it would in Michigan. Blue and pink ribbons mark the various ways to the more than 70 traps scattered at each site. Orange and pink ribbons mark their exact locations. But Goheen doesn't need these.

He's memorized where the traps have been set. He tromps through the woods checking wire traps baited with walnuts from the big green bucket.

He has $150 radio collars on approximately 12 to 15 squirrels in forests throughout Tippecanoe, Warren and Benton counties. The collars tell him the squirrels' locations and from that he can determine whether or not they are territorial, what kind of trees they frequently use, where their territories are and other details.

Twice a day, Goheen knowingly navigates these thick, cold woods in his size 14 boots. He checks the traps three hours after he sets them so that the squirrels don't have to stay in them too long, beating themselves against the metal in panic. Finally, Goheen finds two squirrels near each other, gnawing on the bars, darting around.

Goheen logs the time, sex, size and other details and then puts what looks like an over-sized pastry bag with a zipper at one end at the mouth of the trap. He opens the trap and the squirrel darts into the canvas bag.

Goheen eases open the zipper and the small red squirrel peeks its head out. He affixes the napkin-ring-sized collar around the squirrel's neck. The whole process is complete in less than a minute. As he releases the squirrel it darts into a mass of vines and downed trees.

"It was a good day," he said as he tossed a small handful of walnuts into the woods where the squirrels were found.

"You want to take every precaution that you are minimizing stress," he said. "Those two animals are gonna lie low for the rest of the day, so I figured that the least I could do is give them a free lunch."

FEATURES DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 256

Features editor:
Megan Finnerty

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org