This accomplished photographer’s camera traps help conserve wildlife and wild places.
If you happen to see a square box mounted to a tree in the woods, smile. You might have been photographed by one of Dr. Christopher Sichko’s camera traps that document Front Range wildlife. The 35-year-old is an accomplished wildlife photographer, Wilderness First Responder, and commercially licensed pilot.
The Boulder native has spent the past few years staking out wildlife corridors to record local predators, both relatively common—bears, foxes, coyotes— and rarer, more elusive species such as mountain lions, bobcats, and wolves. He is a regular contributor to iNaturalist, with over 3,000 observations and 800 different species of plants, mushrooms, lichen, and animals, mostly from the Colorado region.
A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Vanderbilt University currently focused on photography, Sichko is documenting the return of wolves to Boulder County. Chris is an environmental Research Economist for the USDA, focusing on the American Great Plains, and, in particular, the drought and subsequent migration of the Dust Bowl era (think John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath).
“He manages to make the Dust Bowl an engaging topic for college students and captures their attention and curiosity as to why this environmental history is important for present-day policy and land management,” says his collaborator, Explorers Club fellow Cayte Bosler.
Sichko says, “My ultimate goal is to support the regeneration and rewilding of the American Great Plains, building a region that supports robust, healthy, and vibrant human and animal coexistence.” sichko.org
Cover photo: Courtesy Christopher Sichhko
