10
passage.
20
In an effort to create a more permeable interstate, the Washington State Department of
Transportation has developed a 15-mile highway expansion project called the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project,
which includes measures for safer wildlife passage. Multiple crossing structures, including overpasses, are slated
for construction within the next five years
21
.
Our project has worked in concert with the Washington State Department of Transportation and Western
Transportation Institute for close to a decade to monitor wildlife activity along I-90 within the project area.
Through remote camera monitoring and snow tracking, CWMP has provided valuable data informing the I-90
Snoqualmie Pass East Project throughout its planning and implementation phases. During the 2016 monitoring
season, the wildlife underpasses at Gold Creek and Rocky Run were in the post-construction phase and beginning
habitat restoration within and adjacent to the crossing structures. In September of 2016, construction of the first
archways for the Keechelus Lake Wildlife Overcrossing began, with the completion of the overcrossing structure
projected for 2018
22
. Our goals for CWMP in 2016 along I-90 were to document wildlife activity at habitat
adjacent to the completed wildlife crossing structures as well as presence of wildlife in areas relevant to future
phases of the project.
TRANSBOUNDARY LYNX MONITORING
Washington is home to one of the largest populations of Canada lynx in the continental United States.
23
Much like
the history of wolverines in our state, lynx were targeted for the fur trade in the 1800s and early 1900s, and
hunting pressure along with habitat decline reduced their numbers drastically in Washington. Because of these
pressures, lynx are protected under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Based on the preferred
habitat of lynx, Koelher et al. estimate that Washington has approximately 3,800 km
2
of available habitat.
24
Researchers have documented the dispersal of lynx across the Canadian border in northeastern Washington.
25
Since wildlife travel across political boundaries, Conservation Northwest works closely with U.S. and Canadian
conservation allies to ensure that lynx and other wildlife can travel safely and seamlessly across the border.
Over the past several years, Conservation Northwest has piloted approaches to extend our monitoring efforts into
the transboundary Kettle River and Rossland Ranges in Washington and British Columbia at the southern end of
the Monashee Range. These efforts, aimed at documenting the presence of lynx and collecting genetic
20
I-90 Wildlife Bridges Project description and connectivity analysis: i90wildlifebridges.org/project-info
21
I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project Final Environmental Impact Statement:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I90/SnoqualmiePassEast/Finaleis
22
http://i90wildlifebridges.org/construction-begins-on-first-wildlife-overpass-on-i-90/
23
Derek W. Stinson, Washington State Recovery Plan for the Lynx (Olympia, WA, USA: Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, 2001).
24
Gary M. Koehler et al., "Habitat Fragmentation and the Persistence of Lynx Populations in Washington State,"
The Journal of Wildlife Management 72, no. 7 (2008): 1518–1524, doi:10.2193/2007-437.
25
Stinson, Washington State Recovery Plan for the Lynx.; J.D. Brittell et al., Native Cats of Washington, Section III: Lynx,
Unpublished (Olympia, WA, USA: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 1989).; and Kim G. Poole,
"Dispersal Patterns of Lynx in the Northwest Territories," The Journal of Wildlife Management 61, no. 2 (1997): 497–
505.
