Do mountain lions live in Virginia?

Despite scores of claims by hunters, hikers and others in the past three decades, there have been no confirmed sightings of puma concolor in the state since 1882.

But the best chance for proof could come this year when Appalachian Trail researchers conduct a predator survey in hundreds of locations along the AT in the mid-Atlantic region.

Dozens of motion-sensitive infrared cameras will capture plenty of images of black bears, weasels and other meat-eaters in the remote forests and black-topped suburbia traversed by the famous footpath.

Researchers don't expect to capture an image of the elusive cougar, any more than they expect a picture of a passenger pigeon or dodo bird. But there's always the miniscule chance of discovering the holy grail of Eastern carnivores.

"Maybe we'll find the mythical, mysterious mountain lion," said Bill McShea, a Smithsonian Institution wildlife ecologist who will lead the AT study. "You never know."

The pilot study is part of the AT's new status as a "mega-transect," or a scientific study of a large geographic region. The recreational footpath is being used as the world's first permanent mega-transect in an effort to monitor environmental threats to the eastern United States.

Motion-triggered cameras

Between April and November, researchers and volunteers plan to post 50 digital cameras in 350 predetermined sites in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

The cameras will be mounted to trees along with scented lures, placed roughly a half-mile apart and moved monthly to new locations.

The locations will be within the AT corridor, but not along the trail itself to avoid being triggered by passing hikers. The data will be uploaded about once a month to a National Park Service Web site.

Wildlife studies have been conducted along the Appalachian Trail for years, but this will be the first time motion-sensitive cameras are used to start creating a comprehensive predator inventory along the AT, which crosses all major ecological zones between New England and the Deep South.

The study's goal is to create a baseline of predator populations so their fluctuations can be charted over time. The first year's data is valuable in itself because it can show how some species are faring by comparing their numbers in different locations such as heavily populated Northern Virginia and rural parts of Western Virginia.

If the all-volunteer study is successful and organizers can attract public or private funding, the survey will be expanded to other states crossed by the AT.

The predator survey is a cooperative effort between the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and Smithsonian Institution.

Volunteers sought

Counting predators is one way of determining the health of the East's ecosystems, which are being hit by sprawl, air and water pollution, invasive species and other threats, according to scientists.

"Predators need space, so they should be sensitive to what's going on around them," McShea said. "Spotted skunks, for example, were everywhere 15 years ago, but we don't know why they seem to be decreasing because no one's counting."

About 100 volunteers -- both professional researchers and "citizen-scientists" -- are being recruited from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Virginia Master Naturalist Program and other outdoors-oriented groups.

"I think it's going to be a lot of fun," said Laura Belleville, regional director in Southwest and central Virginia for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. "And it's another way to get folks paying attention to what's happening in our environment."

McShea came up with the idea for the predator survey when he attended the Appalachian Trail's inaugural mega-transect symposium in November. He's borrowing cameras from the National Park Service and asking volunteers in the AT's fledgling network of mega-transect partners to do the legwork.

"I'm a guy who counts things ... and I thought this would be perfect for one of these predator surveys," said McShea, who conducts wildlife studies worldwide and is studying mammals in China and Borneo. "We're doing this whole thing on a shoestring this year, but if we can get organized enough and collect data in a reasonable way, we can" expand it to the rest of the AT.

All national parks have done predator surveys by documenting tracks, feces, hair tufts, DNA samples and other evidence, but motion-sensitive cameras have only been used for about a decade.

McShea is familiar with Virginia wildlife, having studied the state's white-tailed deer, small mammals and birds in high-elevation habitats. Along the AT, he expects to find predators such as black bears, bobcats, coyotes, grey and red foxes, skunks, raccoons and weasels.

Black bears are counted regularly in Virginia because they're a hunted species, but there have been no comprehensive counts using motion-sensitive cameras of other predators, McShea said.

Some people are volunteering for the survey because they want to see wildlife up close, albeit in digital photos, Belleville said.

Michelle Prysby, coordinator of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program, said her members are joining the survey because they're interested in long-term monitoring and biological inventories.

"They're more focused on how all our natural resources work together," she said. "It doesn't matter if it's charismatic mega-fauna or insects."

Elusive mountain lion

Charismatic mega-fauna is a naturalist's term for whales, pandas and other large animals that fascinate the public. One the AT volunteers hope to capture via the remote cameras is a mountain lion, or cougar.

Its territory once extended across North America, but the species was eliminated from most of the eastern United States by the early 1900s by habitat destruction, hunters and declining numbers of deer, their preferred food.

Today, cougars are thriving in many parts of the West and are being reported in growing pockets in the Midwest and East, according to the Cougar Network, a nonprofit research organization.

The last verified report of a cougar in Virginia was in 1882, but reports of their existence have been increasing. Since 1970, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has received 121 reports of cougar sightings, including many in Western Virginia.