4 CWMP 2013-2014 Winter Field Season Report
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CWMP) is a joint project of I-90
Wildlife Bridges Coalition (a group of organizations focused on advocating for
infrastructure improvements designed to improve habitat within the I-90 Snoqualmie
Pass East Project), Wilderness Awareness School (an environmental education
organization), and Conservation Northwest (a conservation and advocacy group).
CWMP uses trained volunteers to monitor the presence, location, and movement of
wildlife in the vicinity of proposed wildlife crossing sites east of Snoqualmie Pass along
Interstate 90 in the Cascades, and elsewhere in Washington State. The project has a
particular focus on rare and elusive carnivores, such as wolves and wolverines. CWMP is
designed to support the conservation of our region's wildlife and wildlands by
enhancing our knowledge of wildlife-habitat connections in our region, supporting the
monitoring and management efforts of transportation and wildlife agencies, and
providing engaging educational field experiences for volunteers.
The I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project is a 15-mile highway improvement project that
includes measures for connecting wildlife habitat, including construction of wildlife
crossings. Construction on the first phase of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project has
started with funding from the Washington State Legislature. Construction activities
were not active during the 2013-2014 snow tracking season.
A complete description of CWMP's goals and methods, as well as a record of previous
season reports, is available online at conservationnw.org/monitoring. Amendments
made to standard protocols for the program for this season are described in greater
detail below.
SUMMARY OF WINTER FIELDWORK
The winter season spanned November 2013 through April 2014 and included wildlife
snow tracking surveys conducted just east of Snoqualmie Pass along I-90 in critical
connectivity areas and monitoring of wildlife remote camera stations set in important
wildlife habitats in the Cascades.
Interstate 90 snow tracking transects
This winter we introduced a new transect to the study area, at Snoqualmie Pass just
west of the construction zone. Because of lack of snow on lower elevation transects at
the start of the season followed by extensive and continuous snowfall for much of the
second half of the season, two transects were completed only twice this season. All the
others were covered three or more times, though often in very poor tracking
