Wildlife & Habitat

Habitat is home to diverse wildlife

Grizzly bears need room to roam

The Northwest's diverse wildlife is one of the things that make our region especially rich and vibrant. Surviving, thriving wildlife is a sure sign of the health of our forests and watersheds.

Conservation Northwest protects and connects old growth and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies to make sure that wildlife have intact and functioning places to live and safe passage and connectivity between the wild landscapes they call home.

Conservation Northwest protects and connects old growth and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies to make sure that wildlife have intact, connected, and functioning places to live.

From top carnivores down

• We protect carnivores and other animals at the top of the food chain. That trickles down to the many plants and animals that depend upon the same natural habitat.
• We protect, connect, and help restore native ecosystems. Forests and other wild lands support a wealth of ecosystem services, from storing carbon to building rich soils to filter rivers, streams, and lakes keeping them clear and clean.
• We help restore forests and other habitat, working with local land managers to encourage restoration practices to benefit threatened and endangered wildlife.
• We use existing laws such as the Endangered Species Act to protect threatened wildlife.
• Our volunteer wildlife monitoring project employs winter snow tracking and remote cameras to document wildlife presence around Washington. In fact, our teams were the first to document the first wolf pack to return naturally to Washington in 70 years.
• Our wide-ranging coalition work, for example with the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group and I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, is helping connect important habitat to ensure connectivity for key wildlife.

Protecting predators protects prey

Our special focus is on the larger predators of the Northwest, including gray wolf, grizzly bear, lynx, fisher, and wolverine. But by protecting and connecting habitat, we safeguard all wildlife, from elk to mule deer, from owls to woodpeckers, from insects to small mammals, from herbs to fungi.

Through our wildlife work, we have helped reintroduce fisher to the Olympic Peninsula, protect mountain caribou habitat in British Columbia, and gain a science-based management plan for gray wolves that are returning on their own to Washington.

In northeastern Washington, our work for wildlife includes helping ranchers gain conservation easements and working with hunters and anglers on conservation strategies to best protect habitat and wilderness for the diverse wildlife of the region, from bighorn sheep too red-band trout.

Together, we're protecting the lands that wild animals rely upon to live.