Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop - Carnivore ...

Project CAT (Cougars and Teaching)…What the Community Has
Learned.
Trish Griswold, Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum, WA 98922, USA,
griswoldt@cleelum.wednet.edu
Spencer Osbolt, 10th grade, Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum, WA 98922
USA
Sarah Gronostalski, 9th grade, Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum, WA 98922
USA
Jamie French, 8th grade, Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum, WA 98922 USA
Benjamin Wagsholm, 9th grade, Cle Elum/Roslyn School District, Cle Elum, WA 98922
USA
Kevin White, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University,
PO Box 646410, Pullman, WA 99164, USA, kevin_white@mail.wsu.ed .
Gary M. Koehler, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way North,
Olympia, WA 98501, koehlgmk@dfw.wa.gov .
Benjamin T. Maletzke, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State
University, PO Box 646410, Pullman, WA 99164,USA, maletbtm@dfw.wa.gov.
ABSTRACT Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began Project CAT (Cougars
and Teaching) in collaboration with the Cle Elum/Roslyn school district and local
community in 2001. Researchers involve 8 – 12 th grade students, teachers, and
community members in the captures of cougars (Puma concolor) from kittens to adult
age and monitoring their movement patterns and the spatial organization in the foothills
of the North Cascades near Cle Elum, WA. Students have assembled a skeleton of a
cougar to learn the bone structure, performed necropsies to learn the anatomy and
discover how cougars have died. In the field, students learn to identify tracks and sign of
wildlife while accompanying researchers on killsite inspections and captures. They learn
about orienteering and using GPS and telemetry. After teaming up with researchers for 7
years, students and teachers share their experiences and what Project CAT has meant to
them.
Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop
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