Conservation Northwest

Keeping the Northwest wild Winter/Spring 2016 3 Milestones on a great journey VIEW FROM THE DIRECTOR Mitch Friedman Executive Director, mitch@conservationnw.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Protecting our public lands Malheur, and what's next for public lands 6 Fishers back in the Cascades Reintroduced by Conservation Northwest 8 Prescribed fire and wildfire Restoring the role of fire in our forests 10 Range rider update 2015 project field season report 11 Washington wolves updates Wolf counts up, but poaching a concern 12 Wildlife monitoring photos 2015 remote camera season photo favorites 14 Mountain Caribou Initiative Filming to document endangered caribou 15 Conservation gear Show your support with hoodies, t-shirts, hats, growlers and more. A fisher bounds through a creek after release into Washington's South Cascades. Photo: Paul Bannick Previous page: Under the watchful eyes of the next generation, biologists unload transport crates containing fishers ready for reintroduction. Photo: Alaina Kowitz Last June, I was with others from the Conservation Northwest team at a groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a major wildlife "bridge" over In- terstate 90 east of Snoqualmie Pass. In December, we were out again to watch the return of fishers to the Cascades, more than 80 years aer they were extirpated in our region. For any wildlife lover, these are exciting, even historic, events to wit- ness. For me, they were even more: milestones on a great journey. In 1990, the year aer founding what is now Conservation Northwest, I sub- mitted an article to a scientific journal describing how I-90 and a checkerboard pattern of square-mile clearcuts threatened to divide Washington's Cascades Eco- system in two. e paper proposed remedies including wildlife crossing struc- tures. Candidly, I never thought this gigantic problem would be solved, nor truly imagined that through your support and years of collaboration with agencies and allies, we would be the people who solved it. In 1999, at the Seattle Aquarium where we were celebrating our successful campaign to save the wildlands of north-central Washington's Loomis State For- est, right there in front of the octopus tank, my friend Charlie Raines approached me. He asked, "What next?" en he proposed we take on threats to habitat connectivity across the Snoqualmie Pass landscape. us was born e Cascades Conservation Partnership, which —aer its successful effort to gain public own- ership and protection for key wildlands to keep the North and South Cascades connected—evolved into the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, administered by Conservation Northwest. A couple years later, in 2001, Conservation Northwest proposed to the lead- ers of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife a collaborative effort to reintroduce fishers to our state, a native species extinct in Washington since about the 1930s. e state agreed to give it a try, and we backed up the fisher proposal with funding for a study on how to make the recovery happen. Nearly 15 years and many thousands of dollars and staff hours later, in 2016 fishers are back in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. So much of what is happening with nature on our planet these days is tragic and debilitating. But here in Washington, the smallest western state with one of the fastest growing human populations and the least amount of public land, we are instead seeing wild nature flourish within sight of thriving metropolitan areas. We are accomplishing the protection of old-growth forests, roadless areas, and landscape-scale habitat corridors, and the return of fishers, wolverines and wolves. It's inspiring and empowering. For me, it's like watching fruit ripen on a tree I helped plant, fertilize and tend. To be part of Conservation Northwest —with both the boldness to dream big and the tenacity to make those dreams come true—is incredibly rewarding. I hope our supporters can feel that same gratification, for you own these successes too. We have big dreams yet to come true. Grizzly bear populations recovered across southern British Columbia and in the North Cascades, a protected linkage between the Cascades and the Rockies, permanent protection for the wild crest of the Kettle River Range, and much more. Together, we can do these things. I know; I've seen all of us with our dreams in action. View from the Director

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