Scat collection surveys
Scat collection took place continuously from August 2018 to June 2019 in Vinton, Zaleski, and AEP. Scats were collected daily along trail transects at the field sites (AEP = 64.0 km and Vinton-Zaleski = 82.8 km); transects included dirt roads, gated access roads, and hiking trails in each study area. Transects were re-surveyed two times (three surveys in total) during the study. Weather prevented re-surveys for a limited number of transects (<5%) during the winter. Trained field technicians searched for scats, collected samples, recorded GPS locations, and tracked survey effort using Avenza Maps (Avenza Systems Inc.). Scats were collected using a different set of latex gloves for each sample to prevent transfer of DNA between samples and samples were frozen at -10°C the day of collection to preserve DNA.