Wildlife In the Alps - Public Lands Forum Recap
Many lands in the Alps have been preserved and wildlife habitat protected, but reconnecting this habitat with the wider landscape is still a work in process.
These lands have been impacted by human development, and the presence and overall health of the wildlife are excellent indicators of how well we are all doing to restore their habitat to its natural state. Towards these goals, one theme that emerged from our online Public Lands Forum on May 16th is that wildlife corridors and “connections” are just as vital as the quality of the land, the water, and the habit, and that these connections aren’t just between landscapes—they include the relationships between land owners and managers and the individuals charged with their care. This Forum provided IATC another opportunity to convene our partners to share how their work benefits wildlife.
From upper left: Glen Kalisz and Sara Lay of the WA Dept. of Transportation; Kelly Heintz of King County Parks; Jeff Watling of the City of Issaquah; Chris Anderson of the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife; and Anne Newcomb and David Kappler of IATC.
NOTE: Below are just some of the highlights that our panel of experts shared during the Forum. For each of them, links have been provided that jump right to the beginning of their moment in front of the camera so that you can see and hear all of what they had so say.
Chris Anderson, a wildlife biologist from the WA State Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the fourth of our four speakers for the evening summed it up nicely when he said that the previous speakers had built a nice picture of what he was going to speak about. The acquisitions of land for preservation that King County and the City of Issaquah are doing increases the productivity of the Alps for wildlife by assuring a diversity of structure and species and type, and not just having a monoculture. Further, the transportation corridors that the WA State Department of Transportation is building improves the landscape’s permeability for wildlife.
Chris also highlighted the need for homeowners to not endanger the lives of large animals, such as black bears, by securing our garbage and making sure our birdfeeders are well out of their reach. When bears supplement their natural diets with people food they become habituated to living close to humans and that inherently puts their lives at risk. A recent case in point is that of a large young bear that was making the news because of all of his raids on garbage cans while being too elusive for capture. This bear had been collared as a youth and had gotten so large that Chris and others were concerned that the collar itself was becoming a danger. It hadn’t fallen off yet though it was designed to do so. Residents of the south side of Squak Mtn. were particularly concerned about this bear and were speaking up. At the time of the Forum the bear was still at large, still out-growing his chosen home among people. Tragically, it was later reported that officials were forced to kill this bear because of the unacceptable risk he posed to people. Yes, there is good habitat for bears in the Alps, some of the best in western Washington in fact. But what good is that if we must kill them because they are gorging themselves on our food and bird feeders? Not good for the bears, for sure.
Kelly Heintz of King County, who has been instrumental in the acquisition of lands within the Alps for conservation said that one of the County’s goals is to “preserve biological diversity by maintaining a variety of ecosystems across the landscape, and making sure that we’re not fragmenting the landscape. We’re providing the connections.” She continued, “This approach assumes that ecosystems managed to preserve their native composition, structure, and function will retain the vast majority of species that evolved within these ecosystems.”
The eastern face of King County’s Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park not only provides a link to Squak and Tiger mountains, it is also designated as a Habitat Conservation Area (HCA), a good example of this management strategy. Have you ever wondered why there is a vast stretch of the Cougar Mtn. park with no trails? The reason is printed right on the park map within the HCA where it says “Park development and trails have been excluded to protect threatened wildlife. Please help nature’s recovery by staying out of this section of the park.” The City of Issaquah’s adjacent Talus Native Growth Area combines with the HCA to create one of the largest tracks of protected wildlife habitat in the Alps.
Jeff Watling, the City of Issaquah’s Director of Parks and Community Services has played a critical role in two recent land acquisitions that the City has made. One being the 33 acre Bersgma acquisition on Cougar Mtn. just north of the Talus neighborhood, and the other a 20-acre parcel on the northeast slopes of Squak Mtn. just north of Squak Mtn. State Park. His strong connections with other regional players, such as the King County Conservation Futures Advisory Committee and the Trust For Public Land also made a difference. Speaking during the Forum, Jeff stressed the gateway roles these lands will play in connecting trailheads on or closer to the valley floor with the larger King County and State Parks.
The two existing wildlife crossings on SR-18 will be improved and 13 new ones will be added.
Glen Kalisz is a Habitat Connectivity Biologist with the WA State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT). His job is to help animals safely navigate (cross) the State highway system by finding ways to reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions. Major roadways like SR-18 and I-90 are significant barriers to wildlife and fracture the wildlife habitat conserved on either side of them. Glen displayed a map provided by the Muckleshoot Tribe that showed the radio collar trackings of multiple cougars east of SR-18 and south of I-90, prior to the opening of the recently completed wildlife crossing improvements in the Snoqualmie Pass area. This data clearly shows that these roadways are barriers to cougar movement. “If a highway becomes a barrier to a cougar, it is likely a barrier to most species”, said Glen.
Inspired by the conservation work of others, Glen brings the perspective “that it’s WSDOT’s turn to establish a wildlife corridor to...reconnect the large parks west of SR-18 back into the greater Cascades ecosystem and beyond.” Those “large parks”, of course, are the Issaquah Alps. Glen proceeded to describe how the planned improvements on SR-18 are going to literally stitch back together the habitat on both sides of the roadway.
Following the question and answer period of the full panel, the Forum concluded with a wildlife photo presentation by Izzy Edwards. I will spare you my words to describe Izzy and her work, and instead encourage you to click on her name to jump right to her presentation at the Forum. Suffice it to say that if all the previous words and images in the program about wildlife, habitat, and conservation didn’t help you feel closer to the land and its wildlife, then Izzy’s artistry is sure to connect you to the beauty and wonder of nature.