Conservation Northwest

22 Fall 2014 conservationnw.org I first met Dan McKinley, regional director for the Mule Deer Foundation, at an "Eyes in the Woods" training that Conservation Northwest and the foun- dation sponsored in Roslyn, Washing- ton, near Teanaway Wolf Pack territory. Dan and his wife Carrie had traveled from Spokane to partner with us, the Eyes in The Woods organization, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ( WDFW ) because our core values on this are the same. Our organi- zations all loathe the act of poaching and other crimes against our shared natural resources. As Dan put it, "We may not agree on everything but on the issues of poaching of any wildlife we agree 100 percent." at initial willingness from Dan to look beyond our differences and focus on the wildlife issues we agree on is what initiated the start up of a new Okanogan Trails Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation in Omak in January of 2014. With help from Dan, Conservation Northwest and a great group of volunteers, we established our core values as a chapter. a New Mule Deer Chapter ParTNerS IN CoNSerVaTIoN Jay Kehne okanogan County outreach associate, jkehne@conservationnw.org 1. Leave things we can't agree on and politics at the door. 2. Be science based and project ori- ented. 3. Promote a diverse membership of hunters and wildlife watchers from across the state. Considering the Mule Deer Founda- tion's goals, it was a no-brainer that the type of work the organization does for mule deer and mule deer habitat would easily connect with the work Conserva- tion Northwest and our partners con- duct in the Okanogan region to benefit wildlife. ose foundation goals are "to promote scientific research related to mule deer and wildlife management, to restore, improve and protect mule deer habitat, and to encourage responsible and ethical behavior and awareness of issues among those whose actions affect mule deer." Chris Branch, Oroville City Plan- ner, was nominated as our new chapter chairperson. First order of business was to plan and host a fundraising banquet, which was held on May 17, 2014. More than 112 people turned out to support the new Okanogan Trails Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation and enjoy a prime rib dinner and fun evening out. e Banquet raised $22,000, a portion of which will go towards local projects benefitting mule deer and other wildlife in Okanogan County. e next step was to determine which projects to support. During plan- ning over pizza and beer, we decided to put our dollars and volunteer time be- hind two immediate projects and one longer-term one. First was working with WDFW to fund improvements to the Carter Mountain Trailhead parking area just off Highway 97 south of Tonasket. Providing better access to the Carter Mountain Wildlife Area for hunters, hikers, and members of Backcountry Horsemen made perfect sense to our chapter. Next, we decided to buy radio mortality tags for a University of Wash- ington research project to better assess the causes of mule deer fawn mortalities to tease out the role of predators and other natural factors. In our longer term, we're awaiting funds that will allow our chapter to take the lead on the biggest project we have our sights set on: the Highway 97 underpass project with Conservation Northwest and other partners. When completed, the project stands to save more than 400 mule deer each year by preventing costly and dangerous vehicle wildlife collisions. at will also be a big relief for human motorists driving the area at night. When people from various back- grounds, experience, and viewpoints can focus on shared values and a common goal, great things can happen. As Dan said so well, "It's about joining forces for a greater good, accomplishing things bigger than ourselves, and being able to look past those differences for the ben- efit of the wildlife we all love." Eastern Washington mule deer. Photo: © Alan Bauer Okanogan Trails Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation inaugural fundraising dinner. New partners

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