Resources for wildlife monitoring volunteers

A resource page for volunteers and citizen scientists with the Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project

Volunteers for all seasons

Our volunteers are outside year-round monitoring wildlife movements and presence in Washington's Olympic and Cascade mountains and cross the border into British Columbia. Here you'll find information about projects underway, links to training documents, and contact information for project staff.

For overall questions, contact monitoring coordinator Kit McGurn. For snow tracking, contact David Moskowitz at davem (a) wildernessawareness.org.

See the latest animal photos on our Flickr page. Read previous years' wildlife monitoring reports.

Thanks for all of you for your assistance in the field and in the office! Visit our Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring page to stay tuned to work in the Cascades and our overall wildlife monitoring page to see what we are up to statewide and in British Columbia.

Spring through fall

REMOTE CAMERA VOLUNTEERS - Teams are now forming for our 2012 summer monitoring season. Interested? Contact Kit McGurn at kit (a) conservationnw.org to learn about the next opportunity. Fill out the application below and we'll enter you into our volunteer pool for opportunities that emerge during the season. Once you have a team and are ready to enter the field, complete our volunteer liability agreement. It is important to sign and send these in before heading out to the field!

Program application: Word doc (so that you can fill it out online) and PDF file.
Volunteer liability agreement: Word doc (so that you can fill it out online) and PDF file.

Field volunteers, please use the following resources:

Camera protocol (2012)
Wolverine run pole station protocol (2012)
Equipment checklist (2012)
Data sheet (2012)
Safety sheet (2011)
Communications protocol
Camera user guides: Bushnell, Reconnyx, Leaf River, Cuddeback No Flash. Hard copies available in our Seattle office.
Are you collecting hair samples at your site? Beyond the specific directions you should get from our staff in your site description, this chapter in the book, "Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores."

Volunteer travel reimbursements:

Fill out and sign the ALEA travel voucher once per quarter (items in yellow).
Fill out the mileage reimbursement form each time you travel.
To gain reimbursement, you *must* submit volunteer travel forms during the month that you make your travel, and original copies must be mailed to our office.
Email completed forms to Kit above, or mail them to Kit McGurn, Conservation NW, 1208 Bay St #201, Bellingham, WA 98225.

Wintertime

REMOTE CAMERA VOLUNTEERS

The information above for our remote camera season still applies in winter with additional considerations for weather.

WOLVERINE INFORMAL VOLUNTEER SNOW TRACKERS - As the snow falls each year, we hope to tap into the help of winter backcountry enthusiasts to record wolverine tracks in snow.

Recorded tracks and signs of wolverine are analyzed by qualified personnel to guide decisions about future efforts to document wolverines in the region through remote cameras, DNA sample collection, and further wolverine tracking efforts.

To complement in-person volunteer tracking trainings provided each winter by Dave Moskowitz of the Wilderness Awareness School, here's a document with the tools needed for novices to recognize and collect potential wolverine tracks while pursuing winter outdoor activities in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Wolverine protocol - full
Wolverine protocol - abbreviated

For questions, or to submit signed, completed field documents: please contact us at kit (a) conservationnw.org

I-90 SNOQUALMIE PASS SNOW TRACKERS - We have now conducted 6 successful seasons of snowtracking along transects in the I-90 corridor. Training and leadership is provided annually by the Wilderness Awareness School, and each fall we begin our recruiting for the next season.

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