Keep Wildlife Wild

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Keep Wildlife Wild

Mount Rainier National Park receives more than 2 million visitors annually. Despite park efforts to mitigate impacts, there are currently negative consequences to high visitor use levels.

An important area of management concern is that habituated and food-conditioned wildlife are well established in frontcounty areas. Small mammals, birds, and larger mammals such as raccoon, deer, fox and black bear are either attracted to visitors or have no fear of humans.

These conditions pose a definite risk to visitor safety and result in adverse

impacts to the welfare of park wildlife communities. Food-conditioned wildlife has been a long-standing problem in some park areas – a problem not quickly resolved.

A program was established to reverse the culture of wildlife feeding and improper food storage at Mount Rainier. This project began by professionally scoping and documenting problem areas, working with park Interpretation staff on planning for visitor education and proper signage, and planning/conducting wildlife management trials where applicable (aversive conditioning). A clear integration of the park wildlife ecology and interpretive program staff made for success.

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