Home Range Wildlife Research

To advance wildlife conservation by conducting high-quality research, educating aspiring biologists, and engaging local communities. In the face of vast environmental and social changes, we are committed to wildlife conservation grounded in rigorous field based science and long term connection to our landscape. We aim to build a diverse and inclusive community of people that are equipped to tackle our most pressing wildlife conservation challenges. 

YOUR GIFT TODAY WILL HELP US CONTINUE THIS IMPORTANT WORK.

https://www.pbs.org/video/lynx-on-a-scorched-landscape-o0q7ev/

Lynx and Wildfire in the North Cascades

High in the sub boreal forest of Washington’s North Cascade Mountains lives a rare wild cat; the Canada lynx. Today, fewer than 50 lynx are estimated to remain in the North Cascades where they face a growing new threat: climate change-driven megafires. 

Lynx in Washington were listed as endangered by the state government in 2016 in large part due to habitat loss from increasing fires, but no recommendations for addressing the issue were developed because very little scientific knowledge of how lynx use different burned habitats exists. Indeed, all foundational lynx conservation strategies are based on lynx habitat research conducted in the 1990’s and early 2000’s at the tail end of the fire suppression era and just before our current megafire era began. During this time, the North Cascades landscape was largely void of burned habitats. Consequently, we have relied on lynx research conducted across the homogenized forest structures that dominated the fire suppression era and have a limited understanding of how lynx use a landscape shaped by fires. Furthermore, lynx researchers have only recently begun to engaged in cross-disciplinary research with fire ecologists to learn what might be done to dampen the effects of megafires and return the landscape to a more historical patchwork with a pattern of smaller, more frequent fires that lynx once thrived on. 

This project aims to understand how lynx use burned areas, and collect the information needed to recommend management actions that will create more resilient forests and conserve lynx populations threatened by megafires into the future.

Our second winter field season started smooth and finished early! The trapping crew managed to deploy all 4 available GPS collars by the end of February on adult lynx, including 3 males and 1 female. Although our season normally runs through the end of March, this timing was perfect as early snowmelt began preventing us from easily getting into the study area on snowmobiles. 

The backtracking crew followed 38 lynx trails throughout the Tripod burn scar, documenting really amazing lynx hunting behavior along the way. Our summer team will visit these trails again in the summer to document natural fuels and vegetation data- this information will help us learn more about the habitats lynx select for on a burned landscape.

Human-Bear Coexistence

Climate change, increased human development, and changes in natural food availability all contribute to black bear (skəḿxíst; Ursus americanus) use of human-inhabited areas and can elicit human-black bear conflict. In Washington’s Methow Valley, climate-change fueled wildfires have burned approximately 40% of the region over the past several decades, with more than half of that area burned in the past 10 years. The Methow Valley has also experienced a 33% increase in residential development over the last 15 years and will continue to see increased residential growth, with only 52% of all private parcels currently developed. In addition, wild berries from fruiting shrubs are an important natural food for black bears, but as summers in the Pacific Northwest get hotter and drier, the phenology and distribution of berry shrubs are changing. These combined influences have led to marked increases in human-black bear conflict in the Methow Valley. 

While human-black bear conflict is common across the mountain west, the Methow Valley is in a position to examine and mitigate these factors before conflict becomes a widespread problem. In partnership with Methow Bear Aware, a collaboration between the Methow Conservancy (MC), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Defenders of Wildlife, and Home Range Widllife Research, we are working to increase black bear awareness in the Methow Valley through a combination of outreach and community-based science initiatives.

Field skills and effective conservation: a crucial link

Physical connection between those studying our natural world and the natural world itself is a vital part of creating effective conservation strategies. For wildlife biologists, this connection comes in the form of field work, where a tangible understanding of the conservation challenges we face becomes an inherent part of the research process. Proper training that facilitates field work therefore directly impacts the quality and efficacy of the science each biologist performs.