ODFW
ODFW
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Cascadia Wild
$10,000
The Wolverine Tracking Project is a community science project designed to address two critical needs: to conduct long-term monitoring of rare carnivores that supports and informs better wildlife conservation and management practices, and to connect Oregonians to the wildlife and wild places that make Oregon such a special place to live. The project uses volunteers to collect data on four Oregon Conservation Strategy species, Sierra Nevada red fox, wolves, wolverine, and fisher, as well as other carnivores, in the Mt Hood National Forest. Over the years, the project’s success has been significant. Trail cameras documented gray wolves before the White River pack was officially established and provided the only recorded evidence of Sierra Nevada red fox in the area. Genetic samples have established the distribution of Sierra Nevada red fox in the northern Oregon Cascades. Through findings such as these, the project provides critical information to wildlife decision makers. As a community science initiative, the project also serves as a tool to educate people on the importance of wildlife in an ecosystem, the needs of wildlife, and the role of healthy ecosystems in supporting healthy human communities. Volunteers come from various backgrounds and help out in many different capacities. Pre-covid, 2019-20 saw 225 volunteers, over 4225 volunteer hours, 18 trail cameras, and 298 miles of track and scat surveys. We hope to be able to reach similar numbers this coming year. Long term volunteers serve as trip leaders, helping mentor new participants. Special workshops and trips will also be conducted for groups that don’t usually have access to the outdoors, such as students of RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Student Empowerment) and Upward Bound (a program for students who are first in their family’s history to go to college). With support from OCRF, Cascadia Wild would like in the coming year to make the program even more accessible to traditionally underserved communities.