Projects

Africa’s savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are a keystone species and their functional presence supports the persistence of myriads of plants, animals and ecosystem processes, yet they are impacted by numerous direct threats across their range, including poaching; retaliatory killing in response to human-elephant conflict; habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss; as well as climate impacts. As such, and because they also… Read Project SummaryIUCN Red List Assessment of the African savanna elephant

To bridge the career gap between high school and work, Lummi Nation Natural Resources (LNR) partnered with the Ferndale High School Aquaculture program in 2024 to provide students in this Career and Technical Education (CTE) program with hands-on experience in Tribal fisheries as well as classroom technical and cultural support. LNR is uniquely positioned to educate youth on treaty rights,… Read Project SummaryLummi Natural Resources high school aquaculture partnership

Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) and Western Brook/River lamprey (Lampetra richardsoni) are important ecological and cultural species, yet little is known about their distribution in Puget Sound. They are eaten by everything that eats salmonids and they also provide ocean derived nutrients to watersheds. Lamprey are species of greatest conservation concern in Washington and are at risk of climate change impacts.… Read Project SummaryeDNA sampling for lamprey and salmon in Vashon-Maury Island streams

Colonization of the west coast by Euro American settlers in the late 18th and 19th centuries led to the dispossession of Indigenous lands, disrupting land management practices such as cultural burning and harvesting. In the South Puget Sound region, this phenomenon has led to the degradation of Washington prairie ecosystems as well as associated cultural practices like camas (Camassia quamash)… Read Project SummaryTriclopyr and clethodim accumulation in camas bulbs (Camassia quamash) of the South Salish prairies

This is a continuation of a CREO 2025 award. Climate change, increased human development, and changes in natural food availability contribute to American black bear (Ursus americanus) use of human-inhabited areas and can elicit human-bear conflict. Washington’s Methow Valley has seen an increase in both climate change-fueled wildfires and residential development over the past years. In addition, the phenology and… Read Project SummaryHuman-bear coexistence in the Methow Valley

This is a continuation of a 2024 CREO award. Washington State is at the northwestern frontier of wolf recolonization, making it both a hotbed for human-wolf conflict and a natural laboratory for understanding the complex social and ecological dynamics underlying these conflicts. The People and Wildlife Lab at the University of Washington has been investigating wolf-human interactions to improve understanding… Read Project SummaryMoving upstream: Linking novel technology with local perspectives to manage wolf-livestock conflict

Over the 10 years since Beavers Northwest was founded, our organization has provided technical assistance to land owners and land managers who want to coexist with beavers throughout the Puget Sound region. Our work includes installing beaver coexistence devices such as culvert exclusion fences and pond levelers which help to create a compromise between beaver habitat needs and human infrastructure… Read Project SummaryBeaver coexistence efficacy assessment

NOTE: This award was emergency funding granted in response to federal grant cuts. It falls outside CREO’s standard geographic scope of Washington State, and is part of an effort to meet immediate conservation needs in our current volatile funding climate. Africa’s savanna and forest elephants (Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis) are keystone species and their functional presence supports the persistence… Read Project SummaryIUCN Red List Assessment of the African forest elephant