Conservation Northwest

Gaining ground Pat Roberts Accountant, pat@conservationnw.org I, too, monitor As the long-time accountant for Conservation Northwest, I feel a kinship with the long-standing Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project. My job is also to monitor, and I rely heavily on staff and volunteers to retrieve the information I need. My landscape covers the entirety of Conservation Northwest. From the perspective of many, the numeric views I interpret are of an alien, incomprehensible world. But the snapshots I capture reveal the true nature of the beast. My task is to track and assess its health. As with the monitoring project's ubiquitous photos of black bear, deer, and raccoons, the majority of animals that cross my screen are the standard denizens of Conservation Northwest's forest. Small gifts from dedicated donors cycle through regularly, along with the multitude of everyday expenses. They act like squirrels chasing each other around a tree. There are times I am uncertain who is going to overtake whom. More rarely, but always with true appreciation, I catch a glimpse of an apex predator: a grizzly bear, a wolverine, or a wolf. These grantors and major donors, whose especially generous gifts create beneficial cascading effects vital to the continuing health of our ecosystem, are increasingly difficult to find. We value them greatly and track them closely. Would that we could radio collar a few more of them. The Conservation Northwest I monitor roams within clearly defined boundaries. Accounting for non-profits is rigorously enforced, by both interior and exterior agencies. I have been performing this monitoring job for over 10 years. It has been a decade of challenge and fulfillment. Life for Conservation Northwest has not and never will be an easy one. It is a struggle, requiring careful use of scarce resources, to keep our mission alive and thriving. I want to thank everyone who has helped with this task. You have all been responsible for keeping Conservation Northwest off of the endangered species list. Keeping the Northwest wild Jen Watkins Conservation associate, jen@conservationnw.org faces and footprints Wild success I often find the motivation to continue my work and the measure of our work's success in the same thing—the presence of wildlife on the ground we cover. At our organization my time is spent in three programs: connecting wild places; restoring forests and lands, particularly in the Cascades; and monitoring wildlife. This year, volunteers in our Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Program recorded two species in the Cascades that spoke to the importance of the program work we do. Last January, one of our snowtracking team leaders, Brian Booth, reported a surprising find, tracks from a coyote near Gold Creek and I-90 just east of Snoqualmie Pass. According to Brian, "The coyote went directly through the center of the [new] underpass, directly uphill to the westbound lanes, and entered the highway without hesitating, turning, or breaking stride." Coyotes are common throughout the Cascades, but this visit was historic. It was the first time a big animal was known to use the partially constructed underpass at Gold Creek, crossing beneath the freeway to voyage north– south in the Cascades. These are opening words of a new chapter in the story of this landscape, a story that we've been writing with partners for decades, about the importance of the lands around I-90 for movement of wildlife. This one event inspired us to gain clear direction in the state legislature to keep the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project moving forward. It also added meaning to the work of dozens of volunteers who this fall planted 6,000 native plants just north of the Gold Creek crossing structure, helping restore native habitat here for wildlife on the move. In April, another story unfolded Holiday greeting from Washington's newest wolverine, Peg. Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project farther north, when a remote camera station installed and maintained in the Chiwaukum Mountains by longtime volunteer Jim Clarke captured images of a wolverine. It was the first confirmed presence of this elusive species south of Highway 2 in decades. DNA from a hair snag proved this was a she-wolverine previously undetected by other research efforts in the Cascades. We redoubled our efforts and added additional volunteer teams to the vicinity to continue monitoring to see whether "Peg" had made a onetime visit to the northern Alpine Lakes Wilderness or was a possible resident. In late August, Peg gave us the answer, returning to a camera station ten miles to the east in the Upper Icicle Valley. Her distinctive chest blazes verified her identity, and her residency. A wolverine making regular visits south of Highway 2 not only speaks to the returning wildness of these lands as they are protected and restored. It also raises important questions about the potential to improve connectivity across the highway itself. How can we manage the area nearby to ensure that a remarkable critter once missing from these mountains can recolonize here? In my program work on connectivity and restoration in the Cascades, I thrive on work that often seems daunting and unfinished. Thanks in part to these reminders from researchers and our volunteers, we know that the work we've completed is already making a difference for the wilder residents of our state. Winter 2013 11

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