Cascadia Scorecard News
July 2005

A generation ago, it looked like the southern resident orcas that inhabit the inland seas of Washington and British Columbia wouldn't live to see the 21st century. Salmon, their main food source, had been decimated by dams and over-fishing. Orcas were shot at for sport and captured by aquariums. As a consequence, by the early 1970s, at most a quarter of the historical orca population was still spouting, and their numbers were fast dwindling.

Then, in 1976, northwesterners decided to put measures in place-largely at a state level-to protect the whales. Orcas soon became one of the most protected species in the region. Today, summer whale-watchers in the San Juan Islands have a chance to see one of 90 resident orcas, up from a low of 67 in 1971 (see chart).

The southern resident orcas are one of several key species that Sightline Institute is monitoring as part of its new wildlife index, the latest addition to the Cascadia Scorecard. The index-which Sightline will introduce in complete form in Cascadia Scorecard 2006-will monitor local population counts for orcas and four other of the Northwest's iconic creatures, sometimes called "charismatic megafauna." 

Sightline is measuring population counts because they are the most basic assessment of a species' prospects. The index may also reveal the status of the larger ecosystems that sustain these species; and which policies are most effective in protecting them.

Five key species

In addition to southern resident orcas, Sightline's wildlife index monitors four other creatures that, together, represent some of the region's varied ecosystems. Good data, both current and historical, are available for these species, each of which plays a unique role in the region's history and culture. The five species are:

• Gray wolves in Idaho and Montana. Wolves were hunted to extinction in the Rockies, but have been reintroduced. They are flourishing and helping to re-balance their native landscapes by, for instance, pressuring the elk herds that formerly browsed on streamside saplings. This, in turn, improves beaver and trout habitat. Read more.

• mountain caribou of the Selkirk Mountains, a remote region in northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and southern British Columbia. They are the last remaining caribou to visit the continental US and their continued existence hinges on repairing fragmented landscapes, such as forest clearcuts. Read more.

• Greater sage-grouse in Oregon, known for their flamboyant breeding displays, are sensitive to alterations in the vast "sagebrush sea" of the inland Northwest, including ranching, fencing, and invasive species. Read more.

• Chinook salmon returning as adults to the Bonneville Dam, the lowest dam on the Columbia River. These mighty fish are a proxy for the Northwest's once-prolific salmon runs and for the health of the vast river system that binds British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Read more.

• Southern resident orcas that inhabit the inland seas of Washington and British Columbia. For much of the last century, these orcas were under siege. Now, although they are still in jeopardy, conservation efforts have paid off. Read more.

What does a look at these five species tell us? Results are mixed, according to our preliminary research. Some species, like wolves, are steadily growing in number. Others, like the mountain caribou, are clinging to a precarious existence. Still others, such as Chinook salmon, whose numbers on the heavily-dammed Columbia River are anemic, indicate signs of a troubled ecosystem. The trends make it clear that human impacts matter a great deal to the future of the region's wildlife.

Click image for larger chart

The numbers for orcas, for example, indicate that they are still in jeopardy. Their population is nowhere near historic levels. Industrial toxics, particularly PCBs, have so poisoned the whales that scientists consider them among the most contaminated marine mammals on earth. Their main source of food, salmon, are still too scarce.

Still, marine conservation efforts are paying off and the population trends-for now at least-are pointing in the right direction. Aquarium captures are a fading memory, and plans are in the works to restore salmon runs and remove toxics from Puget Sound.

Consider the implications of protecting these five species, each of which numbers only a fraction of historical levels. Restoring them to their former range and abundance would make the Northwest once again home to free-flowing rivers, clean water, abundant salmon runs, intact forests, and healthy high deserts.

This outcome-which the wildlife index aims to move us towards--is good not just for wildlife, but for people, not to mention the thousands of other species that inhabit the Pacific Northwest.

Sightline's Wildlife Index

The complete index will be introduced in Cascadia Scorecard 2006, but as research is completed we will post articles, maps, and charts from the index to the Daily Score.