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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
