Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project

Wilderness Awareness School and Conservation Northwest have partnered to run the Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project which is an ongoing study of wildlife in the mountains east of Snoqualmie Pass. The project has been running sucessfully for the past two years.

In this environmental stewardship project, teams of volunteers carry out snow tracking surveys throughout the Winter to search for and document the presence of wildlife in key areas along Interstate 90, including rare and sensitive forest carnivores such Marten, Lynx, and Wolverines. Along with snow tracking surveys, motion sensing cameras are also being maintained by volunteers to capture photos of wildlife in the area.

Information gained from these surveys may be invaluable in helping protect wildlands from imminent development and direct the future construction of wildlife crossings of the interstate.

NOTE from November 2008: The current field season is now underway. Thanks to all who are volunteering for snow tracking surveys this year! Stay posted for updates as the season progresses. Contact David about future volunteer opportunities: email David Moskowitz

We also encourage you to check out our on-going tracking courses, which provide valuable skills and experience for potential volunteers and team leaders, in the company of other local naturalists and trackers.

Current Wilderness Awareness School tracking courses include the monthly Tracking Club, our Snow Tracking and Winter Wilderness Survival Skills Expedition in February, annual Summer Wolf Tracking Expedition in backcountry Idaho, and the Wildlife Tracking Intensive which meets during 10 weekends throughout the Northwest from Sept. to June, and more. Visit our Wildlife Tracking Courses Page for links to additional course information, or call our office: 425-788-1301.

Winter 2007-2008 Field Season Report
(Note: The complete report is available as a PDF download here).

Abstract: The winter program of the Cascade Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project (CCWMP, formerly Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project) uses trained volunteers to record the presence and movement of wildlife, through snow tracking surveys and remote camera instillations, in the vicinity of proposed wildlife crossing structures along Interstate-90 in the Washington Cascades between Snoqualmie Pass and Easton.

The second field season of the project continued to meet the project's several goals including: training volunteers in wildlife tracking and road ecology, and adding a second season of data on wildlife along Interstate 90. Data collected from this year mirrors findings from the previous season fairly closely. Exceptionally heavy snowfall in the middle of the field season significantly hampered data collection efforts, however a larger number of volunteers resulted in an increased number of transects completed compared to the prior season. Use of handheld computers for data collection was piloted successfully. Remote Cameras were added to the winter efforts with limited success.

Recommendations for next season include: continue implementation of data collection through snow tracking; focus programmatic use of remote cameras during the non-snow seasons to complement winter data and reserve use of cameras to respond to specific sightings in the field; make minor revisions to hand-held computer system to further streamline data collection and management. Download the full report in PDF format

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