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Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project
In 2006, we launched
a Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Program in partnership with
Wilderness Awareness School and Conservation Northwest. We
fiscally fund the program with the following objectives:
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To engage and
educate citizens on wildlife monitoring in the critical habitat of
Washington's Cascades
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To collect
baseline data on wildlife presence in Washington's Cascades along
Interstate 90 and in core habitats through remote cameras and
snowtracking
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To record the
presence of rare and sensitive species in the Cascades that
conservation efforts aim to recover and the I-90 project hopes to
connect (ie wolverine, north Cascades grizzly bear)
The data allows us to contribute to
habitat planning on land nearby the crossing structures, while creating
enthusiasm for the project.
Remote Cameras
The cameras are
already heading into the field to begin our 2008 season which is our
largest yet! Nearly 80 volunteers have been trained this year that
will participate on one of our 13 camera teams placing cameras into
places such as Manastash Ridge, Gold Creek, Price/Noble Creek, Pasayten
wilderness, Twisp River, North Cascades National Park, Hyas Lake, Crater
Moraine, and Twin Lakes. The cameras are located along the Interstate 90 corridor in the Central Cascades to
collect data on wildlife activity in this critical biological hot spot
where the I-90 Snoqualmie East Project is occurring, and in strategic
core habitat locations throughout the Cascades. The locations of the
cameras are chosen to either follow-up on recent wildlife sightings of
threatened species like wolverine, or to monitor activity in habitat
near the future wildlife crossing structures in the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass
East Project.
Click here
to view our results to date on the Conservation Northwest website, and look to the right for a sampling our
photos.
In 2008, we are
expanding this program into the core habitats of the North Cascades ecoregion to better understand the species that we hope to recover and
re-connect. For a taste of that work,
view one of our
volunteers citizen cameras kept in the Teanaway area on YouTube.
Snowtracking
In winter 2006-07, we
launched a longterm snowtracking effort on I-90 in partnership with
the Wilderness Awareness School.
Wilderness Awareness School
is a national not-for-profit environmental education organization
established in 1983 and based in Duvall, Washington. They are dedicated
to caring for the earth and our children by fostering understanding and
appreciation of nature, community and self. Their trained lead
volunteers and staff will be leading 8 teams of volunteers into the
Central Cascades this year to monitor wildlife usage through snow
tracking of habitat near the crossing structures proposed in the I-90
project.
For the first
season, a full snowtracking
results report (link will download a PDF) was prepared to analyze
our findings and the program.
Click here
for a results report from our 2007-2008 season!
Some results from
last winter to date
are below:
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Volunteer snow tracking
teams in the Price and Noble Creek areas reported activity in
December 2006 including bobcat tracks as pictured to the right.
Mallory Clarke's report states that they "saw deer antler rub, a
duck-toed snowshoe hare trail, deer mouse, shrew, and finally a
bobcat. No coyote which was plentiful when we checked out the
west version of this transect. We found a second bobcat just as
we turned around, so we trailed it to the road getting to see
scent marking (x2), a dig site, lots of box stops and head
turns, and then we discovered it was two bobcats walking in the
same trail." |
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The same December 06 team also noted
"There was an ermine running in circles near the road whose
trail disappeared into the muck from the snow plow and never
came out." Photo of the ermine track to the right. |
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Beaver printed recorded
at Gold Creek in January 2007. |
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River otter tracks
recorded at Gold Creek in January 2007. |
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Common gait of a pine
marten in a type of bound along the transects at Hyak recorded
by a team in January 2007. |
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Less common gait of a
pine marten walking along the transects at Hyak recorded in
January 2007. The team leader noted, "The tracks went
between tree-trunks and the animal appeared to have climbed the
trunks." |
Contact
Us:
3414
1/2 Fremont Ave N
Seattle WA 98103
206.675.9747 ext 203
info@i90wildlifebridges.org
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Click here for the results report from our
2007-2008 snowtracking season.
Volunteers heading
out for a day of snow tracking.
Bobcat walking by our camera located in habitat near the proposed Rock
Knob overpass.
Female elk sniffing the lure at our camera located in habitat near Hyak.
Are you a remote camera
volunteer this season? Resources and season information is
available by clicking here.
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