HOME RANGE WILDLIFE RESEARCH

On October 7th, more than 100 people joined us at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery (OSB) Taproom in Twisp, WA to celebrate the launch of Home Range Wildlife Research. We were overwhelmed by the incredible support we received from our community as we shared our origin story and introduced our first projects.  OSB donated $1 of every beer purchased to Home Range, Sunflower Catering kept everyone fed with delicious appetizers, and the many local businesses (see below!) that donated to our silent auction all helped to make this event an incredible success.  Together, we raised more than $6000, funds that will help up launch our first training course this winter ( registration now open!!! ) and conduct pilot work for our lynx-wildfire study. Thank you so much to all those that came out to celebrate with us and donated to kickstart our projects! If you were unable to attend the event, we are still seeking donations to buy wildlife cameras, provide training course scholarships, and much m...

Earlier this month, Home Range's Research Director, Carmen Vanbianchi, organized a field trip with a group of collaborators at the United States Forest Service (USFS),  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), and Washington Conservation Science Institute (WCSI) to discuss fire impacts on the threatened Canada lynx.   More than 20 distinct fires have burned in the vicinity of the Methow Valley over the past 20 years, including the Cub Creek and Cedar Creek fires that burned on opposite sides of the valley much of this past summer. On our field trip we toured burns of various ages to the north of Winthrop and Mazama, an area extending all the way to the Canadian border that comprises much of the last remaining good lynx habitat in Washington state,  to learn how we can best manage for future fire impacts in this region. Washington (WA) once had the largest lynx population in the lower 48; the lynx population in WA is now well below 100 animals. The dark gre...

From an early age, I was exposed to field science by my botanist father.  I was handed a Rite in the Rain field notebook to take nature notes in before I could write an actual sentence, and had started my skull collection by age ten. What I was going to be when I grew up matured when I was a teenager from "saving the earth" to zoologist, with no real understanding of what that meant other than studying animals  It wasn't until at I received a gift subscription to The Wildlife Society Magazine at age seventeen that a name was given to the career I envisioned for my future: wildlife biologist.  By my early 20's I had graduated with a degree in Wildlife Management and Conservation from Humboldt State University and was working as a seasonal wildlife field technician hopping from state to state and working with a variety of wildlife species.  I loved the constant change of scenery and learning new ecosystems; here was what a bear rub-tree looked like in the swamps of Lou...

Methow biologists found Home Range Wildlife Research SEPTEMBER 29, 2021  BY  ANN MCCREARY Photo courtesy Carmen Vanbianchi Anna Machowicz, left, Carmen Vanbianchi and Becca Windell have formed Home Range Wildlife Research. Three Methow Valley wildlife biologists have created a new research organization to address urgent needs for wildlife conservation in the face of climate change, wildfires and human development. The non-profit organization, called Home Range Wildlife Research, will work independently and in collaboration with other conservation groups and agencies to conduct on-the-ground research that will guide wildlife management, said Carmen Vanbianchi, research director. In addition to applied research, Home Range will provide practical field training opportunities for budding biologists, and involve community members in wildlife conservation through education and citizen science projects. Vanbianchi and co-founders Anna Machowicz and Becca Windell met while doing resea...

I'm an animal person. There is no clear memory of when it started; only that my childhood days spent crawling through the snow for miles, floating around lakes on rotting logs, and trailing my family through the backwoods of Michigan made me feel like an animal...and that felt right. By the time I was 5 years old, every person in my life knew what I wanted to be when I grew up: a veterinarian. To everyone's surprise, this never changed. My first job at 16 was in an animal clinic, and I continued working as a veterinarian assistant through high school and college. I loved the work- especially the medical aspect of it- but there was something missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on. As I got to know myself and the profession I had chosen, I realized there was no way I could spend my life writing patient histories, consulting clients, and paying bills. And let's be honest- I didn't have the grades for it anyway. After a life ...

Our Launch Party and Fundraiser event is happening on October 7th from 5-8pm at the OSB Taproom on TwispWorks campus. Join us for a fun evening of beer, food, exciting silent auction items, and more!!  5:00pm: The night will kick off with beverages, (distanced) socializing, and appetizers provided by Sunflower Catering . Bid in our silent auction on items provided by local artists and businesses.  6:00pm: Home Range co-founders Carmen Vanbianchi, Anna Machowicz, and Becca Windell will give a presentation on the origins and importance of the work HRWR is focused on, why the Methow Valley is the perfect landscape to answer critical research questions, and how our community can help.  7:30pm: As the evening winds down, the silent auction bidding will close and winners will be announced. The event is free and open to the public. We can't wait to see you there! 🎉 Visit www.homerange.org to learn more about our organization. If you can't attend the event, donations are stil...

I grew up in the city of Chicago in proper city-kid fashion. My deepest connection to nature came walking my dog in the midst of midwestern thunderstorms or digging up worms and bits of scrap metal in the garden beds my mom crammed into our tiny backyard. A bird was a bird and a bug was a bug and while the lions at the Lincoln Park zoo where no doubt cool, my connection to animals ran deepest with dogs.  A life long love of dogs shaped my path towards a career in wildlife biology.  Dogs followed me as faithful companions throughout the early years of my life, where I was always most interested in their behavior and how I might be able to decipher it. I maintained a hobby interest in animal behavior through the first forays of my career, first as a professional athlete and then as a fundraising manager for an international non-profit, consuming a wide variety of literature of animal behavior and figuring out how to apply what I'd read to help ward off dogs chasing me on my bicy...