It’s kind of obvious that Rachael Mueller is passionate about recycling. Standing in front of the entire Northwest Trek staff at a monthly staff meeting, the wildlife park’s Conservation Program Coordinator flips through slides and speaks with an urgency most of us don’t associate with used tires and electrical wire. But Mueller has a mission – to protect the wild places she herself discovered as a child. And she’s helping Northwest Trek do that through recycling. What do we recycle? Pretty much everything, it seems. Mueller’s staff presentation is all about mixed recycling – paper, plastic, metal. But Northwest Trek …

Planting forest. Counting frogs. Healthy habitat makes for healthy wildlife, and that’s why it’s our goal at Northwest Trek to to improve and maintain wild habitat, both inside the park and in the broader community. Here’s what we’re doing right now – and how you can help. Habitat Restoration We strive to maintain quality habitat for wildlife both inside and outside of the wildlife park. On our five miles of nature trails we’ve cleared out pockets of diseased trees, replanting for a healthier and more diverse forest. We are restoring a large wetland on 100 acres of recently purchased land. We …

Imagine – you’re hiking in deep Northwest forest. Silence and solitude surround you. Suddenly you round a corner and freeze – a grizzly bear is standing on the path. Actually, chances are that won’t happen. Biologists estimate there are fewer than 10 grizzlies in the North Cascades. – an area of nearly 10,000 square miles. And if we take no action, there will soon be none. We can’t let this happen to an American icon. Northwest Trek is joining Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo and other Friends of the North Cascades Grizzly Bear in endorsing one of …