Archive for 2016

Joseph K. Gaydos, The SeaDoc Society
Figure 1. Preliminary impressions from these 100 surveys suggest that leather sea stars (shown here at Hick’s Bay Wall on 9/20/16) continue to be abundant after the sea star wasting disease outbreak.
For three years, SeaDoc has been working with REEF Environmental Education Foundation to use trained recreational SCUBA divers to Read more

B.J. Dittbrenner, University of Washington/Beavers Northwest
This project was a continuation of a 2015 CREOi award investigating the impacts of reintroduced beavers on ecosystem resilience. Beavers are both ecosystem engineers and keystone species. As ecosystem engineers, they modify their environment through dam building to create wetland systems that reduce their predation risk and increase growth of preferred food types. Their role Read more

Western Wildlife Outreach

Since mid-2015, Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO) has been working to create, launch, implement and coordinate a new program, Bear Smart King County, in order to reduce the number of conflicts between humans and black bears in the eastside communities of King County. These encounters can result in property damage and injury or Read more

Northwest Straits Foundation

Of the 23 species of large brown algae native to Puget Sound, bull kelp is the largest (Nereocystis luetkeana). Reaching a canopy height of 60’ or more, this species provides an array of ecosystem services and holds great cultural and economic value to communities around the region. Aerial and dive surveys have been conducted by state Read more

C. Vynne, Osprey Insights
Canada lynx, one of three wild cats native to Washington State, depend on large pristine tracts of boreal forest habitat with ample snowshoe hare and persistent deep snow. In Washington, lynx populations steeply declined due to trapping and habitat degradation and they were afforded Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in Read more

Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center
Common yellowthroat in field-edge grasses. Photo courtesy of Dr. John Marzluff
In 2016, CREOi provided Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center with a grant to study bird diversity and habitat use on the 240 acres of agricultural and forest land managed by Oxbow.  Data were collected from point counts, spot mapping and mist Read more

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

This project is a continuation of a 2015 CREOi award.
Historically, Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida) played an important ecological and cultural role as Washington’s only native oyster. In 2012, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (SITC) and regional partners began a small-scale Olympia oyster restoration effort on the Reservation’s tidelands with the intention of Read more