The Wolverine Tracking Project

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WHAT IS THE WOLVERINE TRACKING PROJECT?

The Wolverine Tracking Project is a citizen science project that combines monitoring for rare carnivores with mentoring in the science and art of animal tracking. We will be leading trips to the Mt. Hood National Forest every other weekend, from December through March, to discover which animals have left their footprints and to teach participants how to read the patterns left in the snow. During each outing, trip leaders use indigenous mentoring techniques to teach participants not only animal tracking, but a variety of other naturalist skills and nature awareness routines. Our goal is for each participant to feel more knowledgeable about the region where they live, and to begin building a personal connection to the land. We hope that this increased knowledge and sense of place will lead everyone to develop more meaningful relationships with their surrounding community and natural environment.

In addition to mentoring, the Wolverine Tracking Project is also designed to carry out long-term surveys to locate rare forest carnivores in the Mt. Hood National Forest, focusing on pine marten and wolverine. Monitoring these animals is required of the U.S. Forest Service and is important for making appropriate policy decisions. However, because of limited resources, the Forest Service is having difficulty meeting their monitoring goals, especially for rare species such as these. Partnering with organizations such as Cascadia Wild is important to the Forest Service to achieve their agency objectives. As a Forest Service partner, Cascadia Wild helps ensure that decisions regarding the public forest are made with accurate information, while at the same time promoting people’s interest and involvement with our public lands.

HOW IT WORKS

To participate, register for the training held in November. After the trainings are completed, we will open the registration for the survey trips to Mt Hood and you may sign up for as many or as few trips as you want.