No, They've Not Gone Nutty: Scotland Seeks Extreme Squirrelers

Extreme squirreling has the ring of something that's on the vanguard of full-contact enviro-sport. But as the BBC reports, it's actually a public outreach program by the government in Scotland that seeks volunteer citizen wildlife assistants to head into the woods, way off the beaten paths, to gather and bring back information about the native red squirrel population.

The red squirrel has had a rough go of it. Habitat losses going back as far as the 1800s nearly wiped them out altogether. Reintroduced to the Scottish Highlands in the mid-19th century, they've since had to compete with some larger cousins. The nonnative grey squirrel, since its introduction into the regional ecosystem, has rendered the reds' rebound in need of a boost.

Organizers promise to arm volunteers with maps, information and field guides for when they head into more rural, less traveled and nearly never-visited forested reaches in the Highlands.

The hope is that the enlisted hoardes of squirrelers will help paint a clearer picture of how the species is faring in the more remote Highlands locations, and to guide habitat protection that will favor the native red squirrels over the larger and less colorful interlopers.

Photo courtesy of Ray Eye, via Wikimedia Commons