Olympic Marmot: Citizen Science

More than 80 volunteers from throughout the Puget Sound and as far away as Philadelphia and Los Angeles traveled to Olympic National Park in the summer of 2010 and 2011 to participate in a long-awaited marmot monitoring program supported by donors to Washington's National Park Fund.

From late July through mid August 2010, volunteers learned about the Olympic Marmot and potential climate change threats to its habitat, 90 percent of which is within the boundaries of Olympic National Park. The "citizen scientists" then set out for 4-7 days with binoculars, GPS units, maps, and data sheets looking for marmots and marmot burrows, and recording their findings. Volunteers will be continuing this research during the summer of 2011, thanks to generous donors to Washington's National Park Fund.

Study results will enhance the knowledge base of the connection between marmot ecology and climate change, and help inform natural resource management decisions in the park.

"We ventured to places we wouldn't have been motivated to explore on our own," said volunteer Wendy Holcomb of Tacoma. "Our children enjoyed it and the terrain was spectacular! It was a great introduction to volunteering."

Park staff is pleased with the monitoring program's initial results, which prove consistent with earlier findings of population decline, and indicate that volunteers provided good data to work with.

See results from last summer's volunteers: Marmot Monitoring 2010 Results. About 100 people have volunteered for the summer of 2011. Olympic National Park will begin recruiting volunteers for next summer in March 2012.