March 21st, 2019

2019 Winter Field Season Update

Text and photography by David Moskowitz

In January we got our first wolverine detection of the winter and some of the best photographs yet for the project. We believe this is the same female wolverine who we photographed last winter at a different location.

Its been a good winter thus far for the Cascades Wolverine Project. We currently have 7 installations running in three different watersheds in the North Cascades and have four wolverine detection thus far, two by photographs, and two by tracks.

We launched a new website and are working diligently to increase our outreach to the winter recreation community to help educate folks on the ecology of wolverines and engage folks in citizen science through reporting potential wolverine tracks found in the North Cascades. 

We are continuing to actively fundraise to help cover our costs for winter field work and enhance the resources we can make available for citizen scientists hoping to contribute to wolverine conservation in the mountains so many of us love.

Here are a few photos from the field this winter including a peak at our first wolverine detection. Stay tuned for more images of this beautiful animal and other adventures of ours from the field!

Tracks of a wolverine close to one of our new camera installations this winter west of Lake Chelan.
In February, Mountain guide and wolverine lover Forest McBrian volunteered for a week to help us service our camera traps…and get in a little backcountry skiing.
An American marten peers quizzically at our camera trap. These smaller cousins of the wolverine are common at most of our camera installations here in the North Cascades. In our last round of camera checks we collected over 7000 frames of this species!
Drew Lovell digging a snow pit to make observations on the condition of the snowpack at around 6500′ in the North Cascades. Deep snows that persist into spring are required for denning habitat for wolverines.
Steph Williams presenting on the biology of North Cascades Wolverines at Holden Village Retreat Center.
Project leader Steph Williams climbs a tree to suspend bait out of reach from critters at our camera traps. Mountain guide and avalanche-forecaster Drew Lovell helps set the lighting for this installation close to Holden Village.
Steph Williams, Drew Lovell, and David Moskowitz captured on our camera trap right after we set it west of Lake Chelan in late January.