Olney's white squirrel count, from paper maps to mobile devices

A town that counts its squirrels

The count was started in 1977 by Dr. John Stencel of Olney Central College. Every October about a hundred volunteers walk 35 areas of town on three Saturday mornings and record what they see: white squirrels, gray squirrels, fox squirrels, and cats, which prey on them. They also note feeding sites. The City Clerk's office collects the paper maps, adds up the numbers and publishes a report; City Clerk Kelsie Sterchi administers the count. The ratio of gray to white squirrels is the number the town watches.

The City's route map

Each volunteer walks an assigned route. The City laid those routes out on the map, from A1 in the old town to the Borah, Northshore and Watergate shores of East Fork Lake, the parks and the Olney Central College campus. On count day a volunteer opens the map and sees their own zone.

In the City's own words

The City wrote the questions and the instructions volunteers see first:

Welcome, and thank you for helping the City of Olney monitor our famous white squirrels! This program collects community observations throughout the year to better support conservation efforts.

When you spot an animal, tap its button, then move your map so that the pin lands in the exact spot where you observed it. Enter how many you saw and save. Your marker stays on the map. Repeat as often as needed.

From the City of Olney's count instructions

A volunteer first says whether they are walking an assigned route or reporting freely. Then each animal gets its own button: white squirrel, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, cat, feeding site, anything else. Every mark carries how many, an optional note and a photo, and at the end there is room for notes on route conditions.

Open all year

The paper maps did their job for decades, but every sighting had to be read off a map and typed up by hand. In September 2026 the City set up the count in Mapsurvey. Past the October Saturdays, volunteers can also report sightings freely without an assigned route.

The City also opened the same map to residents and visitors between counts, and made a poster for it: See a squirrel? Let us know! A white squirrel at the backyard feeder in March is now a data point, not a story told at the counter.

The first week

Residents started reporting before the first October count: white squirrels around the city park and the old town, and on the lake's north shore.

White squirrelGray squirrelFox squirrel

What's next

The first October count on mobile devices starts on 3 October 2026. We will add the results here once the City publishes them.