An exhibit about bringing mammals called fishers back to Washington’s forests
at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park—Seattle Unit
With one species re-introduction can come the restoration and public stewardship of an entire ecosystem.
Klondike invited me to co-create an exhibition about the ongoing effort to re-introduce fishers to Washington’s old-growth forests. A relative of otters and wolverines, fishers were trapped for fur and their habitats were lost to logging and development until they became regionally extinct. Native American communities, national parks, state forests, and land owners have come together to bring this mammal back to its original habitat, and to educate the public about the endeavor.
Themes of collaboration and ecological balance were carried throughout the exhibit, including in a community mural painted during a First Friday art-walk in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.
The exhibit logo I designed was visible from the streets of Seattle's historic Pioneer Square.
Visitors could explore this hollowed out nurse log (fisher den).
A family dabbles in green at a First Friday community mural-painting night.
First Friday art-walkers came into Klondike to help make a mural of a restored forest ecosystem.
Grant funding from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture allowed local artists to contribute species illustrations to the mural. Visitors used this field guide to find the plants and animals that live alongside fishers.
That's one happy fisher.
