20 CWMP 2013-2014 Winter Field Season Report
The continued documentation of wolverine at the Chiwaukum site, builds upon the
existing location data, visual data, and the genetic information of wolverines
documented in the previous winter monitoring season in the Central Cascades. Hair
samples have been collected at the Chiwaukum site and, once analyzed, will provide
information on the movements of previously documented individuals or identify new
individuals traveling in the area.
The sites located directly within the Gold Creek underpass received no images of
wildlife species using the underpass to complement data collected by the snowtracking
portion of the winter monitoring project. Focusing our efforts on the Gold Creek
underpasses and the surrounding habitat will continue to be a priority as we move into
our 2014 spring-fall monitoring season.
Both the Taenum and the Bumping Lake sites were continued from the 2013 spring-fall
monitoring season. These sites were prioritized due to the likelihood of capturing
images of wolves moving into the Southern Recovery Zone and their winter
accessibility for monitoring volunteers. During our 2014 spring-fall season we will
continue to respond to verifiable sightings of wolves in the Southern Recovery Zone.
This year we also piloted our first winter season in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
We monitored two sites, Blue Lake and Cispus River all winter. These sites were in areas
with high winter feeding grounds for elk and recently had reports of a black wolf in the
area. At both sites volunteers documented a significant amount of elk, a main prey
species of wolves, indicating that these areas are important to continue to monitor into
2014.
Volunteer Effort
During the winter, 30 remote camera volunteers averaged three sites to each site for
the season with an average site visit taking 7 to 8 hours roundtrip. Remote camera
volunteer hours for the 2013-2014 winter season totaled 720.
Citizen Science
This season marks eight years of successful use of trained citizen wildlife monitors
carrying out snow tracking surveys in the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project area and
consistent collection of a series of annual data. The use of a leadership team composed
of a small number of volunteers and limited use of paid staff continues to be efficient
and highly effective at meeting Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project goals. By embracing
a field team structure of highly trained team leaders working with entry-level
volunteers, the project preserves high quality data collection while providing excellent
educational experiences and recruiting future team leaders.
