Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
Issue link: http://conservationnw.uberflip.com/i/810819
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For over a decade, the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project has used remote cameras and snow tracking to conduct research related to the study of Washington's rare and sensitive wildlife through citizen science. The Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project has also been engaged in monitoring wildlife presence and activity in critical areas for wildlife connectivity, conservation, and habitat, primarily in the Interstate 90 (I-90) corridor in the central Washington Cascades. Citizen scientists contribute valuable new information about the presence and patterns of wildlife in our state. Our project efforts cover geographic areas beyond those of ongoing professional research efforts, supplementing and strengthening the work of involved agencies, biologists, and other collaborators involved in our Advisory Council. During the 2016 season, 82 volunteers in the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project installed and maintained installations in 27 survey areas in Washington and British Columbia. Our survey areas focused on monitoring in Washington's Cascade Mountains and the Kettle River Range in southeastern British Columbia and Ferry County, Washington, in the US. The main objectives for the 2016 field season were to: 1) detect the presence of gray wolf (Canis lupus) in the Southern Cascades, 2) detect the presence of wolverine (Gulo gulo) in new locations and continue to monitor known populations in the North and South Cascades, 3) attempt to detect grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone (Appendix I), 4) monitor the presence of a wide variety of species of wildlife between Hyak and Easton adjacent to the I-90 corridor, and 5) document transboundary Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) activity between northeast Washington and British Columbia. With the assistance of Conservation Northwest program staff and our Advisory Council (listed in Acknowledgements), we established nine survey areas in the North Cascades, three survey areas in the I-90 corridor, and eleven survey areas in the South Cascades (regions are defined on pages 5-6 of this report). There were also four survey areas in the transboundary Kettle River Range for lynx monitoring this season. Our partners at Selkirk College in British Columbia maintained one survey area on the BC side of the border, while program volunteers managed three survey areas on the Washington side of the border. Over the course of the 2016 season, we detected twenty recordable species. Highlights from this field season include: ● The continued documentation of wolverines in the Cascades. These wolverines appear to be on the front lines of recovery for the species in our region. Our citizen science teams documented wolverines at Union Gap and Chiwawa in the North Cascades. Union Gap had thirty-two wolverine events (see pg. 15 for description) and Chiwawa had two events. Due to highly degraded trail access associated with wildfires and subsequent trail erosion in recent years, the Ice Lakes survey area, which has had high detection rates in the past, was not re-installed in 2016. ● The Chiwaukum survey area, primarily set to detect wolverines, has for two years running, captured gray wolf events. The first of ten detection events took place over a period of two days in April. The animal documented in April was fitted with a GPS collar and determined by our advisers at Washington