By Alex Day, Marketing and Communications Director
High in the alpine meadows of Olympic National Park lives a creature you won’t find anywhere else on Earth: the Olympic marmot. This pudgy, whistle-happy rodent was designated as Washington’s official endemic mammal in 2009. Endemic means it’s only found here — nowhere else in the world. It’s also a keystone species, helping to maintain healthy meadows by aerating the soil and influencing plant growth.
Over 90% of the global Olympic marmot population lives within the park’s boundaries. But after a steep 30% decline in the 1990s, the park’s scientists knew it was time to take action. Cue the Olympic Marmot Monitoring Program.
“Since 2010, Olympic National Park has trained a dedicated team of volunteers — lovingly dubbed marmoteers — to survey marmot habitat each summer,” shares Miranda Terwilliger, Wildlife Branch Lead for Olympic National Park.
“These community scientists venture into the backcountry, some on five to eight-day backpacking trips, to record whether marmots are present in key habitat patches.”
Surveys happen across 30 designated areas, with a focus on tracking presence, absence, and re-colonization. The data they gather help biologists detect population trends and respond to emerging threats, like shrinking habitat from wildfires.
“The Marmoteers membership averages about 124 volunteers per year, and over the past 14 years, 1,061 people have contributed more than 44,000 hours to this effort,” Terwilliger explains. Talk about dedication!
Even better: 68% of those volunteers return for more than one season. This program doesn’t just gather critical data for the park’s wildlife management team; it turns volunteers into life-long stewards of the park and the wildlife that call it home.
Did you know? Marmots don’t have sweat glands, so they have no way to disperse heat. That’s why they can often be found lying on snow, a flat rock, or on bare dirt – they’re trying to cool down!
Field science doesn’t always sound like a family affair, but the marmot monitoring program is proving otherwise. While volunteers must include at least two adults per group, kids are welcome — and they’re often the best marmot spotters of all. (We’re picturing an Easter egg hunt with whiskers!)
Volunteers receive field equipment, safety gear, backcountry permits, campground fee waivers, and training. The park hosts four full-day training sessions each season to prep new recruits and refresh returning ones. It’s a lot to coordinate — but the payoff is huge.
Washington’s National Park Fund is proud to support this long-running, high-impact program. From funding supplies like bear canisters to purchasing much-needed InReach safety devices to replace the park’s aging collection, donor support ensures this program can continue growing and evolving.
Future plans include expanding the program to involve more local youth, tracking predators through scat collection, and using tools like burrow temperature gauges to better understand changing habitat conditions.
There’s a reason this program is so beloved. It connects people to the park, contributes to real scientific research, and helps protect one of the park’s most charismatic creatures. Volunteers can choose trips that fit their comfort level — from backpacking adventures to more accessible car-camping surveys.
Interested in lending a hand? Most of this summer’s slots are already claimed, but you can visit the Marmot Monitoring page on Olympic National Park’s website to learn more. And mark your calendar: marmoteer recruitment typically begins (fittingly) around Groundhog Day.
To help out right now, consider supporting the marmoteers with a donation to Washington’s National Park Fund so this impactful program can continue to make a difference.
When it comes to protecting the fluffiest face in the Olympics, there’s always room for one more marmoteer.
Washington’s National Park Fund is the official philanthropic partner to Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks. Donations fund scientific research, youth and family experiences, and projects that will keep these parks strong and vital now and forever, for everyone. If you’d like to support volunteer-powered community science efforts like this one, consider making a donation today.
Cover photo by Ken and Mary Campbell