The 2010 Northeast Regional Conservation Need funded project, Development of Noninvasive Monitoring Tools for New England Cottontail Populations assessed new noninvasive tools for monitoring the status and effectiveness of conservation actions for the New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis. Currently the top-priority Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the northeastern United States, the New England cottontail lives in dense shrubby habitat and is difficult to detect.

The project was completed in May 2012 and four final reports were published: Detecting New England Cottontails during Winter Pellet Surveys, Estimating Abundance of New England Cottontail Populations using Fecal DNA, Development of Noninvasive Monitoring Tools for New England Cottontail Populations, and Factors influencing detection in occupancy surveys of a threatened Lagomorph - all available on the RCN project webpage. The article Factors Influencing Detection in Occupancy Surveys of a Threatened Lagomorph was recently published online in the April 2014 edition of the Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Incorporating the recommendations resulting from this study into existing New England Cottontail monitoring programs will improve the accuracy of patch-specific occupancy data for this species. Additionally, the approach and findings may be applicable to monitoring other rare, cryptic, or threatened species that occupy dense habitats, especially where patch-level occupancy knowledge is required. (mg)