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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For more than a decade, the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CWMP) has conducted research using remote
cameras, wildlife tracking, and DNA sample collection to study Washington's rare and sensitive wildlife through
citizen science. Led by Conservation Northwest (CNW) in partnership with Wilderness Awareness School and
other groups and agencies, the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project is engaged in monitoring wildlife presence and
activity in critical areas for wildlife connectivity, conservation, and habitat.
Citizen scientists from this project continue to contribute valuable new information about the presence and
distribution of wildlife in our state through both remote camera surveys and snow tracking. CWMP often covers
geographic areas beyond those of ongoing professional research efforts, supplementing and strengthening the
work of agencies, conservation groups, biologists, and other collaborators on our Advisory Council.
During the 2017 remote camera season, 86 volunteers contributed more than 3,500 hours to the Citizen Wildlife
Monitoring Project by attending trainings, installing, and maintaining 72 remote camera installations in 30 survey
areas in Washington state and British Columbia.
CWMP's monitoring efforts are broken into two projects: remote camera monitoring (annual monitoring with
heavier effort from May-October) and snow tracking along Interstate 90 (typically December-March). At the
culmination of each project season, a monitoring report is prepared and made public through Conservation
Northwest's website (https://www.conservationnw.org/wildlife-monitoring/). This report focuses on our results
from the 2017 remote camera monitoring year. Separate snow tracking reports are available on our website.
In 2017, we concentrated our study area in two distinct landscapes – the Cascade Mountains in Washington and
the transboundary mountain ranges of northeast Washington and southern British Columbia, specifically the
Kettle River Range and the Rossland Range. Within the Cascade Mountains, we have divided our study area into
three regions:
1. Washington's North Cascades: North of I-90 to the U.S.-Canada border (North Cascades)
2. I-90 Corridor: Between Snoqualmie Pass and Easton along Interstate 90
3. Washington's South Cascades: South of I-90 to the Columbia River (South Cascades)
The main objectives for the 2017 field season were to:
1) Detect the presence of gray wolf (Canis lupus) in the South Cascades.
2) Detect the presence of wolverines (Gulo gulo) in new locations and continue to monitor known
populations in the North and South Cascades.
3) Detect grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone (Appendix I).
4) Monitor the presence of a wide variety of wildlife species in the I-90 Corridor (Snoqualmie Pass to Easton).
5) Document transboundary Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) presence in northeast Washington and southern
British Columbia.
With the assistance of Conservation Northwest program staff, contractors and our Advisory Council (listed in
Acknowledgements), survey areas were established based on our target species. Each survey area may contain
multiple remote camera sites. Program volunteers managed two grizzly bear survey areas, eight wolf, eleven
wolverine, and five multi-species areas in the I-90 corridor. There were also three survey areas in northeast
