Conservation Northwest

CWMP 2016-2017 Winter Report 1 Table of Contents Executive summary................................................................................................................... 1 Project overview ........................................................................................................................ 1 Study area ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Field methods............................................................................................................................... 3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................................. 3 Transect data................................................................................................................................. 3 Trailing data................................................................................................................................. 10 American marten surveys...................................................................................................... 10 Denny creek pilot transect .................................................................................................... 12 Citizen science............................................................................................................................. 12 recommendations for next field season .......................................................................... 12 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 13 Appendix I: Advisory council ................................................................................................ 14 Appendix II: Species priority list ......................................................................................... 15 Appendix III: Trailing maps………………………………….................................................... 16 Executive Summary The Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project uses trained volunteers to record the presence and movement of wildlife through snow tracking surveys and remote camera installations in the Washington Cascades and other wildlands across Washington State and British Columbia. This report summarizes snow-tracking efforts for the winter of 2016-2017. This field season marked the eleventh winter of snow-tracking along Interstate 90, east of Snoqualmie Pass. This year we had an increased number of transects visited compared to the low snow winters of some recent years. The higher levels of snowfall made for good tracking conditions but created a separate set of challenges concerning weather conditions including heavy snow or bad weather. In addition, teams faced traffic delays on Snoqualmie Pass due to highway closures for avalanche control that truncated a small number of survey days. In spite of these difficulties, 78 observations were made. We successfully piloted a new transect west of Snoqualmie Pass to help broaden our understanding of landscape connectivity for this important wildlife corridor. In addition, we began surveys to detect American marten in the study area outside of ongoing transects. Project Overview The Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CWMP) is a joint project led by Conservation Northwest, I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, and the Wilderness Awareness School. The program utilizes remote cameras year-round to document rare and sensitive species throughout core areas in the Cascades, as well as for more common species in strategically important locations. During the winter months, trained CWMP volunteers use snow tracking to monitor the presence, location, and movement of wildlife near proposed

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