3 CWMP 2013-2014 Winter Field Season Report
CITIZEN WILDLIFE MONITORING PROJECT
2012-2013 WINTER FIELD SEASON REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project uses trained volunteers to record the presence
and movement of wildlife, through snow tracking surveys and remote camera
installations, in pre-selected locations from the Washington Coast to the British
Columbia Rockies with a strong focus in the Cascade Mountains. The project is
conducted by Conservation Northwest, Wilderness Awareness School, and I-90 Wildlife
Bridges Coalition.
This winter marks the eighth season of data collected at fixed transects along Interstate
90, in the vicinity of proposed and recently constructed wildlife crossing structures
between Snoqualmie Pass and Easton in the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project. It also
marks the third winter season following the start of significant highway construction,
including completion of two wildlife underpasses at one of the project's field sites and
the fourth season of observer reliability assessment carried out to determine the
reliability of snow tracking data collected on track transects.
This winter season, twelve remote camera sites were monitored between December
and April focusing on wolverines in the Washington's Central Cascades, wolves in the
South Cascades, and all wildlife presence along the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project
area.
Seven different species were documented over the course of the winter, including one
target species, wolverine, at the Chiwaukum site. This season also marked a successful
pilot winter season in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
This winter, 84 volunteers participated in our project's wildlife monitoring: 54
volunteers took part in formal transect surveys and 30 volunteers installed and
maintained remote camera sites. The season was marked by challenging tracking
conditions, with almost no snowfall during the month of January followed by large
amounts and continuous snowfall during much of the month of February.
