BIG PICTURE TO FOCUS ON ANIMALS\Santa Monica Mountains study using hidden cameras to track wildlife.

Byline: Tony Knight Daily News Staff Writer

Wildlife biologists this month began hiding about 50 point-and-shoot cameras in the local mountains hoping they can get bears, cougars, bobcats, coyotes and foxes to snap pictures of themselves.

The study of large carnivores in the Santa Monica Mountains is being mounted by the National Park Service to learn how to preserve these species in the face of encroaching development.

"The animals actually come to a platform and take pictures of themselves," said Ray Sauvagot, wildlife biologist for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

"If there are mountain lions out there we should get pictures of them," he said.

The study should provide information on the habits of carnivores, the areas they frequent and the corridors they use to move back and forth between the coastal ranges and wilder areas inland, Sauvagot said.

The information can be used by public agencies from local planning commissions to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in planning residential development and park acquisition to help preserve the presence of large carnivores in the local mountains.

The specially rigged cameras are being provided by Canon U.S.A. as part of its "Expedition into the Parks," program aimed at supporting wildlife studies at national parks across the country.

The cameras will be equipped with motors to automatically advance the film after a picture is taken. The animals will be lured with bait either to a pressure plate rigged to trigger the camera when stepped on, or to an infrared beam that triggers the camera when broken.

The study also will focus on the Simi Hills west of the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Susana Mountains to the north because they provide a corridor to more extensive wilderness areas.

"The mountains still provide homes for a lot of bobcats, coyotes, foxes and badgers," said Sauvagot. "What we want to know is what allows them to persist, and what must we do as a part management agency in order to protect them. The best way for us to do that is to find out where these animals occur, and how they interact with rural development."

The three-phase $65,000 study is being funded by the National Park Foundation in partnership with Canon U.S.A., which provided $1 million for wildlife and conservation studies at 65 national parks across the country.

Taking pictures of the fanged critters is the second phase. Last summer, biologists set out about 20 steel plates covered with soot with bait hanging so animals would cross the plates and leave their footprints.

In a third phase, scientists will capture some of the animals and put radio collars on them so their movements can be tracked.

The soot plates indicated that there were a large number of bobcats, foxes and badgers, in additional to the well-known coyotes, frequenting developed areas on the edge of the brush, Sauvagot said.

Park officials have been guarded about releasing the results of the soot plate study. A special media tour of some of the study areas is scheduled for Tuesday.

"I think the most interesting thing so far has been the surprising diversity of animals that occur in all of the areas that we sampled," Sauvagot said. "If we set them up near urban development, you get pretty much the full complement of species just as much as in a remote area."