10
model created by CCCP and the sampling method they employed based on the "hair corral" described by Kendall
and McKelvey (2008).
18
CWMP's field protocol adapted these methods to focus on simple detection using remote
camera data rather than DNA analysis based on genetic sample (hair) collection. CCCP's primary research
objectives were to collect information on the genetic structure of carnivore populations in the NCE and to detect
grizzly bears and other rare carnivores. CWMP's primary research goal is detection of grizzly bears.
I-90 CORRIDOR MONITORING
I-90 acts as a major barrier to wildlife traveling north and south in the Cascades. Results from a large-scale
connectivity analysis designate a narrow corridor along Interstate 90 to be particularly crucial for wildlife
passage.
19
In an effort to create a more permeable interstate, the Washington State Department of
Transportation (WSDOT) 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
20
.
Our project has worked in concert with WSDOT and Western Transportation Institute for close to a decade to
monitor wildlife activity along I-90 within the project area, with support from the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition.
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 2017 monitoring
season, the wildlife underpasses at Gold Creek and Rocky Run were complete and habitat restoration within and
adjacent to the crossing structures was underway. 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
2019
21
. Our goals for CWMP in 2017 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, as well as Conservation Northwest's I-90 Wildlife Corridor Campaign and Central Cascades Watersheds
Restoration programs.
TRANSBOUNDARY LYNX MONITORING
Washington is home to one of the largest populations of Canada lynx in the continental United States.
22
Much like
the history of wolverines in our state, lynx were targeted in the fur trade in the 1800s and early 1900s, and
18
Long, R.A., J.S. Begley, P. MacKay, W.L. Gaines, and A.J. Shirk. 2013. The Cascades Carnivore Connectivity
Project: A landscape genetic assessment of connectivity for carnivores in Washington's North Cascades Ecosystem.
Final report for the Seattle City Light Wildlife Research Program, Seattle, Washington. Western Transportation
Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman. 57 pp. and Kendall, K.C., and K.S. McKelvey. 2008. Hair collection.
Pages 141–182 in Long, R. A., P. MacKay, W. J. Zielinski, and J. C. Ray, editors. Noninvasive survey methods for
carnivores. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
19
I-90 Wildlife Bridges Project description and connectivity analysis: i90wildlifebridges.org/project-info
20
I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project Final Environmental Impact Statement:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I90/SnoqualmiePassEast/Finaleis
21
http://i90wildlifebridges.org/construction-begins-on-first-wildlife-overpass-on-i-90/
22
Derek W. Stinson, Washington State Recovery Plan for the Lynx (Olympia, WA, USA: Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, 2001).
