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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For over a decade, the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project has marshalled citizen scientists
looking for Washington's rare and sensitive wildlife. Using remote cameras and snow tracking,
project volunteers monitor wolverines, gray wolves, North Cascades grizzly bears, Canada
lynx, and more, while also focusing on detecting on wildlife present in places of critical wildlife
connections, conservation, and habitat such as along the Interstate 90 (I-90) corridor.
Citizen scientists contribute valuable new information on presence and patterns of wildlife in
our state. Our project efforts cover geographic areas outside those where professional research
efforts are ongoing, adding to and strengthening the work of agencies, biologists, and others.
From May through November, 2013, 74 volunteers in the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project
installed and maintained 26 sites in Washington and British Columbia. Sites were focused on
Washington's Cascade Mountains and the Rossland Range in British Columbia. The main
objectives for the 2013 Spring-Fall field season were to 1) monitor gray wolf (Canis lupus)
presence in the Southern Cascades, 2) detect wolverine (Gulo gulo) presence in the North,
Central, and Southern Cascades, 3) observe all wildlife presence between Hyak and Easton
adjacent to I90, and 4) document transboundary Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) activity between
northeast Washington and British Columbia.
With the assistance of Conservation Northwest program staff and our Advisory Council
(Appendix I), we established two sites in the North Cascades, two sites in the Central Cascades,
six sites in the I-90 corridor, and ten sites in the Southern Cascades. Though six sites were
installed in the Rossland Range in British Columbia, only one site received data in time for this
report. Additional data will be captured in a future addendum. Since this was our first season
in this region, we expected challenges in recruitment and implementation, but as we gain
familiarity in the region and capacity on the ground we will continue monitoring in the
Rossland Range during our 2014 monitoring season.
Over the course of the 2013 Spring-Fall season, we detected ten species. Our greatest success
this field season was continued documentation of wolverines where we know they occur in the
Central Cascades but continued genetic profiling and documentation of new individuals is
meaningful. These wolverines are on the frontlines of recovery for the species. Other season
highlights include:
Wolverines were documented at both Ice Lake and Union Gap in the North Cascades
and at Chiwaukum in the Central Cascades. Genetic results from tests run by the project
advisors from the USDA Pacific Northwest Research Lab showed that in 2012,
volunteers at the Chiwaukum site detected four distinct wolverines, judging from visual
and genetic data collected at the site. Late in the 2013 Spring-Fall monitoring season, the
