The documentation of a wolverine at our Chiwaukum Mountain site added further
location data, visual documentation, and genetic information on wolverine presence in
the central Cascades to our 2012‐2013 fall‐spring monitoring results in the Highway 2
corridor. Those earlier results included images and hair samples recording 3 individual
wolverines south of Highway 2, including one confirmed female our volunteer team
lead named "Peg" and one confirmed male known as "Bootjack male" (see Appendix B
for a timeline and analysis prepared by project advisors Keith Aubry and Cathy Railey
regarding wolverine detections at the Chiwaukum camera site for 2012‐2013 fall‐
spring).
This winter's images confirm the continued presence of a genetically unidentified
wolverine in the Chiwaukum Mountains south of Highway 2 known as CHWK‐03, while
providing diagnostic visual evidence via chest marking patterns. Hair samples were
collected from a hair snagging bole wrap are believed to be from CHWK‐03 in late
March 2013 at the Chiwaukum site, and have been sent to a Forest Service research lab
for analysis. Also, during the period between March 3 to March 13, 2013 Chiwaukum
camera #1 captured images believed by biologists to be both CHWKM‐03 and CHWK‐01
(also known as the Bootjack male). In total, pending potential genetic results from hair
samples, the Chiwaukum camera sites are believed to have captured images of two
individual wolverines.
Our monitoring in the Highway 2 corridor was also featured this winter in a Seattle
Times article, "Once extinct here, wolverines on the rebound," highlighting the
remarkable recovery of this species in Washington's Cascades, which our project is
helping to document. The article also discussed the potential listing of this species by
the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a "threatened" species affording it Endangered
Species Act protections. (See Appendix C for full text of Seattle T imes article and online
photos). The article included a site visit to Johnny Creek with staff and volunteers and
highlighted a secondary benefit: this program allows us to place a face of the critters
living on the landscape and the volunteers working to monitor them.
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CWMP 2012-2013 Winter Field Season Report
