Mapping Migratory Species – Zion Region Motus Towers

Zion, Cedar Breaks, and Pipe Spring are not just global destinations for visitors; they also serve important habitats for many migratory birds, bats, and even imperiled insects. Many of these small species, routes, timing, habitat use, and even presence are often unknown because they do not weigh enough to support the heavy GPS transmitters used on large animals such as mule deer or bighorn sheep. Tower installations called Motus stations solve that problem. Motus (Motus.org) is a global network of 2,200+ receiving stations across 30+ countries that detect ultralight radio tags placed on small animals, light enough even for monarch butterflies. Established in 2015, this network of receiving towers supports the tracking of 450+ unique species. When a tower detects that a tagged animal has flown near (~50km) a tower, this detection is then automatically uploaded to an online database and sent to the researcher managing the station. Animal detections as well as approximate migratory paths are then visible to scientists and the public in near real time via an online viewer, making the system transparent, publicly accessible, and globally utilized by wildlife researchers and managers.  
  

Although receiving stations are close across much of the country, the Southwest has a conspicuous coverage gap centered over Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Pipe Spring National Monument. Near threatened migratory birds, such as snowy plover tagged in northern Utah, have reappeared at Motus towers in the Arizona Strip, yet their passage through southern Utah, including our parks, go unrecorded, leaving roughly 300 miles of missing information along their journey to southern Mexico. Installing Motus towers at the proposed sites will shrink that blind spot and expand continuous detection zones across the landscape and into higher elevations extending upward from the Mojave. Currently, researchers and wildlife managers across North America are deploying tags on thousands of migratory species, most of which are species of management concern and rapidly declining. Currently, these three parks can only speculate about the broader role they play in the life cycle of these species as they are unable to detect the movement of these animals without having established Motus towers to listen for the radio tags these animals are carrying along on their journey.      

This project proposes installing Motus stations at five previously developed locations with existing infrastructure: Zion Administrative Building, Kolob Visitor Center, Lava Point radio repeater, Pipe Spring National Monument, and Cedar Breaks National Monument. Installing them onto existing structures prevents new ground disturbance, reduces compliance complexity, and maximizes line-of-sight coverage across elevation gradients and jurisdictional boundaries. With collaborators at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and the Department of Defense (DOD), these towers will support targeted tagging studies, shared study designs, coordinated monitoring, and joint management actions for declining migratory species. They also provide a jumping off point for additional regional partners who are invested in expanding Motus throughout the region.   

For bird conservation, Motus turns uncertainty into evidence. The towers will reveal corridors, stopover dependence, site fidelity, and migratory timing for species that matter to the park and region, helping distinguish essential habitats from transient use. Local detections will feed regional and global datasets used by agencies, universities, and NGOs, transforming a modest investment into high value insights that guide protection, restoration, and resource allocation. Public access to detection results, via the Motus website, visitor center display, or other digital touchpoints, will help visitors and the community understand the park’s role in habitat connectivity and the importance of maintaining these corridors. It also serves as an important first step for future park studies involving songbirds, monarch butterflies, or migratory bats that cannot carry heavy GPS tags.    

This funding will support purchase, construction, and installation of Motus towers at the five proposed, previously developed locations. This is a practical, low-impact approach that minimizes cost, compliance complexity, and visual footprint while maximizing regional coverage. These stations will strengthen the global Motus network, empower neighboring state and federal partners, and deliver decision-ready data to park management and the greater conservation community. A minor contribution yields a magnified impact, closing a critical gap for the park, the region, and the migratory communities that pass through these parks each season.