Conservation Northwest

2016 CWMP Field Season Report

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

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5 only does visual documentation of species influence research and policy decisions, these images create a narrative and a face for our wildlands; the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project emphasizes the importance of monitoring and conservation efforts to ensure a stable landscape for our region's wildlife. PROJECT OVERVIEW Over a decade ago, Conservation Northwest began using citizen science as a way to fulfill our mission to protect and connect wildlife and wildlands from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies. We continue to train and deploy over a hundred citizen scientists each year throughout our mission area with the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CWMP). This project uses remote cameras and snow tracking to document the presence and behavior of rare and sensitive species throughout core areas as well as the presence of more common species in strategically important locations. Since its inception, CWMP has remained an asset to wildlife agencies and professionals by providing valuable data from monitoring efforts in areas identified as potential core habitat for some of our region's rarest wildlife. Our main project objectives are: 1. To engage and educate citizens about wildlife species and monitoring in critical habitat areas; 2. To record wildlife presence in the I-90 corridor and along the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project in strategic locations and in core habitat through remote camera monitoring and snow tracking; 3. To record the presence of rare and sensitive species that regional and national conservation efforts aim to recover including fisher, gray wolf, grizzly bear, lynx, and wolverine; 4. To facilitate the exchange of information about wildlife, including data from monitoring efforts, between public agencies, organizations, and interested individuals. Due to the number of partners in the Cascades ecosystem, CWMP operates in the Cascade Mountains through a collaborative effort, formalized in 2006, between Conservation Northwest, the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, and Wilderness Awareness School. Throughout each monitoring year, all three organizations lead a faction of the project: Conservation Northwest acts as the main volunteer coordinator for all efforts and leads remote camera monitoring beyond the I-90 corridor in the North and South Cascades. The I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition and Wilderness Awareness School provide in-kind and financial support to the project for activities associated with the I-90 corridor. CWMP has enhanced its positive impact through an Advisory Council (listed in Acknowledgements) made up of project partners, government agency biologists, and professional researchers. Our Advisory Council provides valuable input to the review of our program; it also steers our yearly monitoring objectives and site locations. Council members assist in developing our protocols, confirm identification of priority images from the season, and provide a scientific audience for results gained in the field, ranging from hair samples to tracks. These collaborations between project partners and advisers are crucial to the success of the program year to year. Collaboration keeps our efforts scientifically informed and relevant, ensures coordination rather than duplication of monitoring efforts statewide, and adds valuable, on-the-ground information to the conservation community.

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