Wildlife monitoring

Documenting animals in the wild

Since 2001, Conservation Northwest has monitored in wild areas in Washington for the presence of wild and often little-seen animals of the Northwest, including lynx, wolverine, pine marten, and wolf. Working in concert with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), the project began as the Rare Carnivore Remote Camera Project.

We've documented rare carnivores in the roadless forests of the North Cascades, Kettle River Range, and Selkirk Mountains, all the while coordinating with state and federal agency biologists. In 2008, our volunteer-operated cameras documented the first wild wolf pups born in Washington, bringing to light the natural return of wolves to Washington for the first time in 70 years.

Our most active program is the Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project.

Spring through fall, we place motion-triggered remote cameras in wild locations to capture photos and document wildlife presence. And in winter, we find and follow animal tracks to document wildlife travel patterns.

We also record and analyze the results.

• Peruse the project's 2008 monitoring field report

• Watch a slideshow of wildlife captured on remote cameras

The landscape of monitoring

Currently, citizen wildlife monitors are working around the state:

• In the North Cascades, particularly on the lands near Snoqualmie Pass and Interstate 90, an area critical for wildlife from bear to wolverine to elk passing north and south in the Cascades.
• On the Olympic Peninsula, documenting Pacific fishers which Conservation Northwest helped reintroduce to Washington's forests, teaming up with DFW, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service.
  
• In northeast Washington on the Colville National Forest, where we're working with the Colville National Forest and a experienced team of volunteers to record the presence of lynx in the Kettle River Range.

Confirming presence of rare carnivores informs land management decisions upon which our wildlife depend. And it's people like our citizen monitors taking us there. Thanks to all the volunteers who've made this program a success!