Issaquah’s 2nd Annual Wildlife Coexistence Day
Photo courtesy of Trout Unlimited.
By Kira Telgen, IATC Program & Volunteer Coordinator
Early this past June, the Issaquah Alps Trails Club joined a handful of local partners at the City of Issaquah’s 2nd Annual Wildlife Coexistence Day, showcasing our work on our Wildlife Cam Project.
Over 200 attendees swung by the fair to learn about the wildlife we call neighbors, checking out booths from Trout Unlimited, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the City of Issaquah, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, the Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, and more.
IATC Program & Volunteer Coordinator Kira Telgen shares wildlife footage captured through the Wildlife Cam Project. Photo courtesy of the City of Issaquah.
IATC’s Wildlife Cam Project monitors nearly two dozen cameras for wildlife sightings throughout the Issaquah Alps. The program, funded by the Foundation for Intelligent Life on Earth and grassroots donors, recently added 10 more cameras to the network. In the year-plus that the program has been active, we’ve recorded sightings of everything from cougars to mountain beavers.
The Wildlife Cam Project’s main goal is to educate the public about the creatures in our backyards. We share these lands and resources with hundreds of different species, and through education, we can ensure these populations and our ecosystem stay strong. For the Wildlife Cam Project, these education initiatives manifest in the form of participating in fairs like this one and going directly to classrooms.
Kevin Millar, a longtime volunteer of the program, helped man the booth at this year’s Wildlife Coexistence Day. For him, the day was all about creating community around wildlife education and awareness: “It was great to see the high participation from so many organizations and their passionate and dedicated volunteers. People who stopped by our table were genuinely interested in our efforts to bring glimpses of wildlife in our areas to them and help them be aware of the variety and diversity of the activity going on around us.”
Did you miss this year’s Wildlife Coexistence Day?
Not to worry, you can check out our video archive here to catch every clip of our wildlife neighbors.
Or catch us at next year’s Wildlife Coexistence Day on June 5, 2027.