Wildlife & Habitat

Habitat is home for plants and animals

Wildlife make our region vibrant. They are also excellent indicators of the health of our forests and watersheds. Protecting wildlife means protecting their homes, and helping ensure safe passage between wild places. Conservation Northwest makes sure that wild animals from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies have intact and functioning places to live. We work with local land managers to encourage practices that benefit threatened and endangered wildlife, and we use existing laws such as the Endangered Species Act to protect threatened wildlife. Our citizens' monitoring project uses winter snow tracking and remote cameras to document forest wildlife in Washington, their movements and where they live.

Our special focus is on the large carnivores of the Northwest, including gray wolf, grizzly bear, lynx, fisher, wolverine, and mountain caribou.

From the top down

Protecting the larger animals near the top of the food chain helps the many other plants and animals that depend upon the same natural habitat, from northern spotted owl to marbled murrelet to Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly to western gray squirrel. Native ecosystems support a wealth of plants and animals and priceless ecosystem services: storing carbon out of the air and providing rich soils and clean water.

Campaigns for wildlife

We've helped reintroduce fisher to the Olympic Peninsula, protect mountain caribou habitat, and create a management plan for gray wolves that are returning on their own to Washington. In northeastern Washington we work with hunters and anglers on conservation strategies to best protect habitat for elk, deer, moose, native trout, like bull trout, as well as grizzly bear and lynx. Together, we're protecting the lands wild animals rely upon to live.