Deep within the woodlands of the Olympic Peninsula, you’ll hike over twisting streams and through towering evergreens to record bird calls and collect habitat data.

The Olympic Peninsula, one of the last explored areas in America, contains rugged mountains, stunning coastline, and a vast wilderness dominated by evergreen rainforest. Within this ecosystem exist some of the largest and oldest trees on the planet, some more than 1,000 years old. More than 29 animal species within this habitat are found only on the Olympic Peninsula, from the Olympic marmot and Olympic short-tailed weasel scurrying thought the mess of ferns and shrubs of the understory to the Olympic mudminnow inhabiting quiet river backwaters and forested wetlands. Almost one million acres of this primordial woodland is protected as a World Heritage site, the Olympic National Park. The managers of the surrounding woodland are tasked with balancing protections for its rich biodiversity and the demand for its valuable timber.

This project aims to provide scientific evidence on how wildlife responds to different forest management styles. While many environmental factors are considered in management strategies, how wildlife responds is considered the ultimate validation of a successful habitat conservation strategy. As birds are an integral part of the forest ecosystem, and excellent indicators of its change, studying which birds live where will give researchers key insights into the health and sustainability of different types of managed forests. Bird occupancy will be determined by collecting recordings of bird calls, known as passive acoustic monitoring (PAM).

Participants will install sound recording devices in different habitat types within the watersheds of the Olympic Experimental State Forest (OESF), a state-managed land designated for the study of integrating timber harvesting and habitat conservation. Paired with habitat surveys, in which participants record tree species, measure tree diameters, and assess the understory vegetation, researchers will be able to determine how many of each species are living in each type of forest and how species are responding to different management styles.

Join us in a remote and wild area of the Pacific Northwest to delve into the important consequences forest management has for wildlife and community. With your help, the data collected fills important gaps in knowledge on the intersections of conservation and forest management.

Location

Olympic Peninsula near the City of Forks, Washington, USA

Cost

$3195

Includes all accommodation, meals, transfers, insurance and research activities

Duration

8 days

Dates

Update October 15 2021: As overseas travel restrictions and covid requirements are not fully finalised, our overseas expeditions are not yet back on sale from Australia. We appreciate that people are as keen as we are to travel and we will facilitate these amazing experiences again as soon as possible. In the meantime, please refer to our Australian experiences.

Activity Level

Strenuous

Lead Scientist

Teodora Minkova