Bill Suder spent much of his 1997 Christmas vacation in his garage putting together 4 prototype squirrel nesting boxes modified from blueprints we obtained over the internet.  Our major innovation was to hinge one of the side walls and insert a glass pane so that inhabitants could be observed with what we hope is minimum disturbance.  With only 4 nesting boxes to work with this year, we decided to make a little experiment out of the placement of the boxes, themselves.  Two were quickly put up at heights convenient for people to monitor, i.e. approximately 20 ft. off the ground, in an area adjacent to the College known to harbor both the white and gray morphs (at the boundary between Sectors 13 and 14).  The boxes were erected with the use of a 25 foot extension ladder (that's Chris Lowe on the ladder) and while everyone acknowledged that this was at the lower limit for squirrel use, we were also generally statisfied that they were at the upper limits of safe use by human monitors.  Longer ladders, besides not being available, were more dangerous.  Then, one of our student associates, Bill Zink, asked "why use ladders, at all?"  Zink is an experienced climber and has worked as an arborist.  He has also constructed and operated ropes courses at the North Carolina Outward Bound School. Bill convinced the rest of us that not only were ropes (properly handled) safer than ladders but that with their use, we could put boxes practically anywhere, i.e., where the squirrels might be more likely to use them.   Rather than put the two remaining boxes in a different location as previously planned, we decided to place them in the same general vicinity as the first two but higher up, at least twice as high.  In doing so, we hope to determine if height is a major factor in squirrel use.  The information will be very valuable in future site selection as the number of available nesting boxes increases.  Preliminary results indicate that squirrels do prefer the higher boxes.  In April, while visiting the box shown in the photograph to your left, two squirrels scampered out.  Both were gray.  Unfortunately, since that time, bees have moved in and we haven't yet figured out how to safely evict them.  Any suggestions?

Epilogue:  Eventually, all four boxes became occupied but our observations were scanty and anecdotal.  No litters were ever observed.  Funds dried up and no more boxes were constructed.  The four we erected deteriorated much more rapidly than we had expected.  Only one remains standing and its front panel is no longer intact leaving the glass plate unshielded.  Bill Zink graduated before I dared to ascend to the high boxes and I have forgotten the climbing techniques in which I was tutored (although I still enjoy fooling around tying knots).  Bill Suder has retired.  For all intents and purposes, this project is no longer operative.  Bob Glesener, 22 July 2003.