Woodland Park Zoo is located in the Pacific Northwest, a region renowned for its beauty and wildness. Surrounded by vast coastal waterways, temperate rainforests, snow-capped mountains, and arid shrub-steppe, residents and global visitors alike enjoy an unparalleled wealth of ecological diversity and outdoor recreation.

As wild species and habitats across the globe disappear at an alarming rate, we must work harder than ever to protect the ecological integrity of the Pacific Northwest. We have a unique opportunity—and an ethical obligation—to provide native wildlife with the space and security they need to thrive, while also enhancing our own well-being. We see the Living Northwest as a place where our vibrant communities coexist with a rich diversity of native wildlife.

Woodland Park Zoo’s unique Living Northwest conservation program helps to recover native wildlife populations, establish long-term ecological resilience in our Northwest landscapes, and empower all people to be wildlife conservationists. We achieve conservation success by investing our efforts in two broad areas:

Participate in conservation science in your community!

Participate in Conservation

 

 

The Pacific Northwest supports a remarkable array of wildlife and diverse ecosystems, but has also suffered from a legacy of wildlife persecution and ongoing habitat loss and urbanization. Changing climate patterns also threaten the future of our natural communities.

Projects under the umbrella of the Living Northwest program help to identify and ameliorate the causes of regional species decline, and to encourage the recovery and long-term persistence of native wildlife populations.

 

 

Living Side-by-Side With Wildlife

Urbanization and suburbanization are rapidly increasing in many portions of the Pacific Northwest. As seen here and elsewhere, expanding human development and a dramatic reduction in wildlife habitat can push wildlife into growing conflict with people; their opportunities for avoiding us become more scarce. The Living Northwest program aims to help people inhabiting urban, suburban, and rural areas better understand the needs and behaviors of local wildlife so that we can coexist safely and in harmony. Getting to know and appreciate our immediate wild neighbors can also build empathy for more remote and threatened wildlife, benefitting conservation far and wide.