Homecoming for wildlife
Keeping them here
Celebrating a
Wildlife Homecoming
South Chilton grizzly bears, one of five threatened
populations in southwest British Columbia. © Jeremy Williams
Jasmine Minbashian Communications director,
jasmine@conservationnw.org
F
all is without a doubt my favorite time
of year in the Pacific Northwest. The
days are still sunny and warm, but with just
enough of an edge to energize life and keep things moving
a little faster. The brisk wind interrupts a warm bask in the
afternoon sun as a sharp reminder that colder weather is
around the corner.
Both people and wildlife hustle and bustle to prepare for
the impending winter months: storing away the bountiful
summer harvest and making sure all the leaky spots are
patched up. It's a beautiful cycle of life that is universal to
most living beings.
Whether you are a bear, bird, or human, fall is the time of
year when you look toward home—wherever that may be.
4 Fall 2013
But coming home is not as simple as it used to be. What
probably comes to mind is a return home from summer vacation where there was a busy airport, flight delays, increased
security checks, or a congested highway—or maybe all of the
above. But if humans think they've got it tough, how many
have ever tried walking from the Cascades to the Rocky Mountains, or for that matter, crossing Interstate 90 on foot. For
most wildlife these days, coming home is a challenging task.
All people have to do is look at a map of the United States
to see that the spaghetti network of roads we use to get out for
our summer holidays have seriously limited wildlife's ability to
freely move across the landscape.
These roads have chopped up intact habitat, killed animals
through vehicle collisions and allowed people to penetrate
deeper into wild places, leaving few areas where wild animals
can be left undisturbed.
Add to this the challenge of a rapidly changing climate. No
one is exactly sure where "home" will be five or ten years from
now for those species who have specific habitat needs (think
wolverines who need deep snowpack, or the lynx of the boreal
forest). But as of today, they are fortunate to be able to call the
North Cascades home. In just the last five years, our area has
seen an incredible resurgence of the Cascade's top carnivores.
conservationnw.org
