Western Wildlife Outreach

Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO) is a non-profit, community-based wildlife education and outreach organization based in the Pacific Northwest.
Mission
The wildlife conservation education organization is dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of science-based information on large carnivores, such as grizzly bears, black bears, cougars and gray wolves with an instructional emphasis on how humans and their domestic animals can safely coexist with them. WWO produces high-quality, information-rich brochures and maintains a website that has been recommended or referenced by other organizations and government agencies, including the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, Vital Ground land trust and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo as a resource on bear safety.
History
Founded in 2001 by award-winning conservationist, author and film maker Chris Morgan (Bears of the Last Frontier, Siberian Tiger Quest)--as the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP), the organization was launched to help promote bear awareness and safety measures when living, working and recreating in bear country and to deter human-bear conflict in the area of the two Pacific Northwest grizzly bear recovery zones:
the North Cascades Ecosystem and the Selkirk Mountains Ecosystem, as designated by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC). The IGBC oversees recovery efforts for grizzly bear populations in the lower 48.
The non-profit changed its name in 2012 to Western Wildlife Outreach to reflect the work it currently undertakes to raise awareness for other large carnivores in addition to grizzly bears. Outreach efforts as of June 2014, include efforts to conserve black bears, wolves and cougars in the Pacific Northwest through public outreach and community awareness.
Team
The organization has five part-time staff members as well as a cadre of volunteers who are strategically located throughout the region in communities that live with populations of bears, wolves and/or cougars nearby.
Programs
WWO focuses efforts on small group and individual communications and problem-solving, neighbor to neighbor, as well as hosting community events such as outdoor seminars, lectures and films. In addition, WWO has conducted classroom projects in partnership with the Woodland Park Zoo in the Issaquah and Yakima Basin school districts in Washington State.
Partnerships
The organization works in partnership with universities, state fish and wildlife agencies, the zoo community, and other non-profit organizations, providing expertise and people-power to promote wildlife awareness and methods for coexisting with large carnivores. For example, WWO is a key partner of the Wolf/Livestock Conflict Research program at Washington State University's College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and the Woodland Park Zoo's Living Northwest program.
Products
WWO produces a number of brochures and other print materials for awareness campaigns, including a "Bears Are in Your Area" hanger for Washington and Idaho residents as a means to educate neighbors about discouraging bears from the area.

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