Wildlife Communities: The Washington Project
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Team members will have a unique opportunity to take part in an on-site examination of wildlife communities and their habitats in Washington’s majestic North Cascades Range. The geography and deeply divided valleys of the North Cascades will provide us with a unique opportunity to examine a diverse range of natural history patterns and wildlife habitat mosaics. This summer we will take part in on-site research of wildlife species/habitat relationships that will enhance our understanding of regional wildlife communities in the Cascades.
The project will begin in the lush, low elevation foothills of the western Cascades where we will investigate Washington’s remaining old-growth stands, and search for signs of elusive species including predators such as marten, fisher, and bobcat. Next, we will head up in elevation as we move east into the heart of North Cascades National Park where the topography and deep glacially carved valleys host a rich blend of songbirds and forest carnivors. Continuing east, our final site leads us to the fragile alpine where we will explore picturesque meadows, craggy ridges, and meandering brooks for kestrels, mountain lion, mountain goats, pika and marmot.
THE PROJECT
Our team goals will be to assess the distribution of wildlife communities across the North Cascades. In the process we will develop skills for identifying individual animals and plants, while gathering field information useful to the preservation of threatened species/communities. Incorporating diverse wilderness habitats ranging from old growth forests to sub-alpine environments will enable us to use a combination of direct observation and indirect techniques (tracks, sign identification, foraging evidence, etc.) to record the presence of such extraordinary wildlife species as mammalian predators (cougar, bear), cavity-nesting birds, cryptic amphibians, and high-altitude specialists, the sure-footed travelers of the Cascade’s alpine crests (mountain goat, marmot, pika). 
We will learn and apply various methods to estimate wildlife populations (densities and relative abundance) and learn to quantify a variety of habitat parameters. While our study techniques will focus on terrestrial wildlife, many of our observations will also be of avian species due to the relative ease in detecting them. Team seminars and discussions with wildlife professionals will focus on the ecology and behavior of our study species, responses to human impact, wildlife research in the North Cascades and conservation biology.
Throughout the project, we will record our wildlife detections to qualitatively gain an understanding of species/habitat relationships. This on-site field study research, will enable us to produce important current documentation of summer range distribution for Cascades wildlife species. In cooperation with North Cascades National Park we will also collect data to examine the interaction of human impacts and wildlife corridor distribution. As many of our study species have been designated as threatened or sensitive, our team’s research provides a vital contribution to their survival.
Full information available on request.
PROJECT LEADER
CHRIS FABREY, W.S. Researcher, investigates wildlife community structure and succession and succession in managed ecosystems.