Wolverines, Foxes, and Rare Carnivores of the Cascades: Sense of Place Pop-Up, Mar. 21
From Sense of Place:
by Sarah Fox
The Dalles, Ore. February 23, 2024 — Now in its 14th season, the popular Sense of Place series has announced the launch of Sense of Place Pop-Ups. These events will bring the unique Sense of Place programs to locations throughout the Gorge, beginning with a Pop-Up at The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center on March 21, 2024, with wildlife biologist, Dr. Jocelyn Akins.
“These Pop-Up events are a natural way for us to offer greater access to incredible individuals like Jocelyn Akins and her unique knowledge of this place. Having the opportunity to do that with an organization and space like the Gorge Discovery Center & Museum feels like a win for everyone.” Sarah Fox, host/curator of Sense of Place.
Here in the Washington Cascades, two rare carnivores roam the high-alpine. Wolverines were once eliminated from Washington, but in 2020, a wolverine and her kits were photographed in Mt. Rainier National Park for the first time in over a century. Three years later, the Cascades Carnivore Project announced it had documented three new baby wolverines (called kits or cubs). Another carnivore, the Cascade red fox (Vulpes vulpes cascadensis) has called the high Cascades home for half a million years. These foxes are found no place else in the world. Yet despite their native status, this elusive species has gone largely unnoticed, until now. In 2022, the Cascade red fox was listed as endangered by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
So how do we learn more about these unique species and what can their presence here tell us about the history and future of the High Cascades? Sense of Place host/curator, Sarah Fox will be joined by wildlife biologist, Jocelyn Akins, for an engaging conversation exploring what it takes to research these rare carnivores, Jocelyn's journey, and what the research may tell us about the rare carnivores' chances of survival in the American West.
Jocelyn Akins - wildlife biologist
Jocelyn Akins is a wildlife biologist with more than two decades of experience in wildlife conservation research. Her research and the Cascades Carnivore Project, which she founded in 2008, have been featured in National Geographic, the Smithsonian Magazine, on OPB, and in USA Today among many others. Jocelyn studies rare, alpine carnivores, working in collaboration with numerous partners to promote the conservation of carnivores and their ecological communities in the Cascade Range. She earned a Ph.D. in Conservation Genetics from the University of California Davis. She was a 2021 Wilburforce Leaders in Conservation Science Fellow.
Event Details:
Sense of Place Pop-up at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum
When - Thursday, March 21, 2024. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., presentation begins 6 p.m.
Where – Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, 5000 Discovery Dr., The Dalles, OR 97058
Cost - $12 tickets, information at SenseOfPlaceGorge.org and GorgeDiscovery.org
Sense of Place is a program of Mt. Adams Institute, a Gorge-based non-profit that seeks to strengthen the connection between people and the natural world through education, service, career development, and research.
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