Conservation Northwest

2013 Spring-Fall Field Season Report CWMP

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

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6 | P a g e PROJECT OVERVIEW Over a decade ago, Conservation Northwest began using citizen science as a way to fulfill our mission of protecting and connecting wildlife and wildlands from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies. Although the technology has changed since then, we continue to train and deploy hundreds of citizen scientists each year throughout our mission area with the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CWMP). The project uses remote cameras and snow tracking to document rare and sensitive species throughout core areas, providing security habitat for rarer wildlife, as well as more common species in strategically important locations. Since its inception, CWMP has remained an asset to wildlife agencies and professionals by providing additive monitoring efforts in areas identified as potential core habitat for some of our region's rarest wildlife. Our main project objectives are: 1. To engage and educate citizens on wildlife species and monitoring in critical habitat areas; 2. To record wildlife presence in the I-90 corridor and along the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project in strategic locations and in core habitat through remote cameras and snow tracking; 3. To record the presence of rare and sensitive species that regional and national conservation efforts aim to recover including fisher, gray wolf, grizzly bear, lynx, and wolverine; 4. To facilitate exchange of information on wildlife, including data from monitoring efforts, between public agencies, organizations, and interested individuals. Due to the number of partners in the Cascades ecosystem, CWMP operates in the Cascade Range through a collaborative effort, formalized in 2006, between Conservation Northwest, the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, and Wilderness Awareness School. Throughout each monitoring year, each organization leads a faction of the project: Wilderness Awareness School leads in the snow tracking portion of the project active from December to March, while I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition leads in remote camera work along the I-90 corridor. Conservation Northwest acts as the main volunteer coordinator for all efforts, as well as taking the lead in all remote camera efforts beyond the I-90 corridor in the north and south Cascades. CWMP has broadened its positive impact through an Advisory Council made up of project partners, government agency biologists, and professional researchers (Appendix I). Our Advisory Council provides valuable input to the review of our program; it also steers our

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