Science News from the North Coast & Cascades Network

OCTOBER 2024 – In the North Cascades, hoary marmots are in danger. Between 2007 and 2016, observed abundance fell by a whopping 74%. Past research linked this decline with chronically dry conditions and low snowpack, combined with acute cold. A new study examined whether climate change is compounding the threat by opening the door to predators like coyotes that were previously deterred by snowpack.

AUGUST 2024 – So, how many elk are there in the park, anyway? It’s a common question at Olympic visitor centers, but surprisingly hard to answer. Threats including wildlife diseases and hunting on adjacent lands means wildlife managers need an accurate understanding of the size and makeup of the park's iconic Roosevelt elk herds. However, aerial surveys, which had been taking place since 1984, ended in 2015. Now, biologists are experimenting with a new way to monitor elk.

In early December 2007, a series of three Pacific storms struck coastal Oregon and Washington. Later named the “Great Coastal Gale of 2007,” these storms brought in heavy rains, severe temperature swings, and hurricane force winds exceeding 100 miles per hour to Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Ten years later, the forest looks very different. How is the park using remote sensing technology to monitor landscape change?

At Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, staff are developing a plan that will help restore the park’s degraded prairies, wetlands, dunes, and coastal forests. To better tailor this ongoing restoration effort, they needed to know more about the species that reside in the park, including bryophytes and lichens.

At San Juan Island National Historical Park, a recent species inventory is giving park managers the information they need to help safeguard rare and special plants. Conservation of rare species helps maintain their genetic diversity as well as preserving the unique ecological and cultural functions they serve.

Meet Ameen Asbahi, a former Biology Vegetation Assistant intern through the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program! Read more for his park story.

MARCH 2024 – Even national parks transform over time—sometimes in dramatic ways! Explore a new visual tour through 30 years of data from the NCCN’s landscape change monitoring program, which uses satellite remote sensing to track disturbances in Olympic, Mount Rainier, and the North Cascades. This analysis also offers clues to how climate change may be altering disturbance patterns in wilderness areas across the Pacific Northwest.

SEPTEMBER 2023 – Northern spotted owls are in trouble. Populations on the Olympic Peninsula fell by over 80% between 1995 and 2017; in Mount Rainier National Park, they declined nearly 75% over the same period. In response to declining numbers, autonomous recording units have become the front line of monitoring across the species’ range. This technology offers unique advantages, but challenges to the species survival remain.

Despite dire evidence of rising tree death, researchers found resilience and hope deep inside western Washington's forests. But it will take 21st-century monitoring methods to keep that hope alive.

SEPTEMBER 2023 – What happens to bats in Olympic during the winter? While scientists know that some species migrate while others stay local, many of the details are still a mystery. That’s a problem, because winter is when bats are at greatest danger from white-nose syndrome. The installation of a new receiver connected to a global network of wildlife tracking stations will offer knowledge that park managers could use to help promote resilience to WNS in the future.