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Text  and Videos coming soon!

Sauk Mountain Pictures

(We are posting this two weeks late, due to forgetfulness.)

After venturing back up to the north Cascade region, we collected our cameras and found a single black bear.

It looked like it was smelling the red fox urine...

As for the other camera, we got footage of a squirrel running in the background.

Enjoy, the featured video "Scavenging Squirrel"

After collecting the cameras, we stayed at Canyon Creek Campground and prepared to set up the cameras the following day. Unfortunately, there had been a rock and mudslide a few days prior, blocking access to the original location off of North Cascades Highway where we were planning to go. BUT...we improvised and found a location in Pasayten Wilderness. 

Stay tuned when we post the (hopefully many) pictures and videos we get this week!

Featured Article on Washington Wild's Blog

 Recently, we were featured in an article on the Washington Wild (a local conservation-focused nonprofit) blog.

To Catch a Wolverine in Washington’s Wilderness

by Teddi McFall

They say pictures are worth a thousand words, but to me, a summer intern here at Washington Wild, the pictures I help collect leave my friends speechless. This summer as a hobby with my boyfriend, I set up cameras to capture pictures of wildlife around Washington State.

A common interest in environmental science and the outdoors brought Rob Holbrook and me together. We both enjoy being in and studying nature, as we are both working towards bachelors degrees in Environmental Science at UW and WWU.

Edmonds Community College’s LEAF school program taught Rob how to track and set up wildlife cameras. These cameras use motion sensors as well as infrared light to take pictures of moving animals in day or night. Rob soon bought his own wildlife camera and included me in creating a blog to post the pictures we wanted to capture.

A bear wanders into the view of the camera

Our blog, “Wolverines of Washington,” is a fun project we are doing this summer aimed at collecting pictures of fauna that we normally cannot see while hiking. The ultimate goal is to capture a picture of a wolverine, a muscular hunter-scavenger of the weasel family that under a current proposal, may be declared an endangered species. This animal is adapted to snowy, high elevation regions and is facing large threats due to climate change. Therefore, we make finding one of these rare animals the ultimate accomplishment for our blog.

In order to find the large, charismatic fauna that we are looking for (bears, wolves, wolverines, etc.), we use research reports to find the ranges of the animals and at what elevations to find them. Using this information, we find areas that will give us the best results and hike up the camera, bait (chicken legs), a bait casing (made of chicken wire and zip ties), a hammer, nails, and red fox urine to work as lure. We usually look for signs animals have been in the area like tracks, fur, or tree markings. After nailing down or hanging the bait and casing, we attach the camera to a tree and leave it there for at least 2 weeks.

The massive anticipation while hiking back up to retrieve the camera is what makes this project so exciting. It’s after you actually see these animals in their habitat that you realize how important protecting them really is. We hope to spread awareness of species’ habitat depletion as well as wildland protection through the pictures we collect. Not everyone wants to find bear markings or take pictures of mountain beavers, but it is something I am proud of and am learning a lot from this summer. 

Posted by Washington Wild at 10:57 AM

You can see the full blog article here

Sauk Mountain Camera Setup

July 31st, 2013-

On this warm summer day, we ventured to the Northern Cascades region off of Highway 20 to place our camera. Our friend Cory Gunn came along and brought his own wildlife camera. This is our second camera setup --  having two cameras this time. In two different locations, one of the cameras we set to take still photos and the other to capture video. It was our first time using red fox urine as a lure. (Cross your fingers!)

With all the cool pictures we got last time, the pressure is on to live up to our names! Hopefully we get something good.

Wicked view of the mighty Sauk River

Another equally wicked view of Mount Baker

After completing our first camera setup, we realized how the fox urine works....it smells terrible!

Unidentified Scat #1

Unidentified Scat #2

Unidentified Scat #3

Nailing in the second bait casing. Bear canisters look out, we have a new way to bear-proof food!

Betcha can't spot the wildlife camera

Break out the bear mace: our first animal attack....thousands of flies and mosquitoes!

Ensuring the camera is lined up just right

"May the animals be with us."