Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
Issue link: http://conservationnw.uberflip.com/i/122775
Inside Conservation Northwest View from the Director Wilder fortunes for the Northwest Washington State, land of the latte, Boeing, Microsoft, apples, salmon, spotted owls, and charismatic carnivores. Did you double take on that last one? Well, wake up! Washington is suddenly a carnivore state, right up there with Idaho and Montana. It's time for us to recognize and celebrate it. Along with steady, healthy populations of cougar, bobcat, and black bear, we now have: • • • • • Close to a half dozen wolf packs, up from zero just a few years ago A reintroduced population of fishers in the Olympics, and prospects for the same in the Cascades Two of the six grizzly bear recovery areas on the Lower 48, now with photo confirmation of grizzly bears in each, with more documentation of bears just across the BC border In the Okanogan Meadows area, the healthiest lynx population in the lower 48 states Wolverine confirmed in the Cascades, from Mount Baker to Mount Adams That resurgence in top predators is not only good, but essential for every critter in the ecosystem, from butterflies to beavers and from song birds to salmonids. Carnivores are agents for biodiversity. Conservation Northwest can claim a share of the credit for these wilder fortunes. Habitat trends, at least in the backcountry, are positive these days. More mountain roads are being yanked than built, and roadless areas and old growth are left alone. We're making great progress in maintaining habitat links from the North Cascades to the Central Cascades, Rockies, and BC Coast and Chilcotin ranges. We've protected these species from trapping and other harm, and in the case of fisher, even given them a ride south, from BC to the Olympic Peninsula. All this work will continue. But it's not enough. The current, organized backlash to wolves in eastern Washington, as throughout the Rocky Mountain states, puts to rest any notion that our society has somehow matured past the folklore and prejudice of our past. While overwhelming majorities of Americans will tell a pollster they favor predators as part of nature, those who do not are able to muster substantial passion, political influence, and, in some cases, a well-aimed bullet. Conservation Northwest serves you by being in the trenches. Our staff and volunteers are not hanging out in urban cafes reciting wolf poems. We're in the woods maintaining field cameras and fences—in communities like Omak, Twisp, and Orient—building relationships, correcting myths and solving problems. We're in Olympia, Washington DC, and Victoria getting policies enacted to keep the Northwest wild. Here at Conservation Northwest, we love wolves and all the Northwest's charismatic carnivores. But we spend our time noting not what wolves can do for us, but what we can do for wolves. And we couldn't do this without you. Keeping the Northwest wild Mitch Friedman. Photo by Jackie Branz "Washington is suddenly a carnivore state, right up there with Idaho and Montana. It's time for us to recognize and celebrate it." Fall 2011 3