The Cascades Wolverine Project (CWP), a grassroots effort to support wolverine recovery in the North Cascades, will be presenting in Leavenworth next week.

Co-founder Stephanie Williams will present and take questions at the Wenatchee River Institute's Red Barn in Leavenworth December 4th from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

The toughest part about studying wolverines is acquiring data about their habits and lives. In fact, there are only 30 or 40 wolverines in the North Cascades, and they are very elusive.

"They live in low-density populations in really rugged habitat." Williams said, "So we actually don't know that much about wolverines in the North Cascades because they're just very hard to study."

CWP is always trying to get in contact with back county skiers, mountaineers and hikers for help with data collection and monitoring wolverines. All data is submitted to a federal database and a non-profit database for wolverine science and conservation.

In North Central Washington, when discussing mammal populations that are in need of recovery, the conversation of late has surrounded keystone species like wolves and grizzly bears. Keystone species have a very noticeable, cascade effect on the rest of the ecosystem.

Wolverines are definitely not a keystone species.

"The wolverine can be an indicator species." Williams explained, "They indicate that the mountainous terrain here in the Cascades is intact enough to support an animal that requires a huge, undisturbed home range. So they indicate that the mountain ecosystem is relatively healthy."

The event is free to attend and will include video, photography, and stories involving wolverines. Those in attendance can have their wolverine-related questions answered, find out how they can help in collecting data, or find out how to donate.

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