WTU's Sarah Gage, with assistance from NOCA's Dr. Regina Rochefort, Mignonne Bivin, and Steve Hahn, led trips in June, July and August.  In June the focus was low elevation forest and wetlands in the Thunder Creek drainage.  A total of 159 collections were made along the Thunder Creek Trail, Stetattle Creek, and Thunder Knob Trail.   Including the replicates, nearly 400 specimens were gathered over three days.  July's outing required a boat trip up Ross Lake for access to the area around Desolation Peak.  Over 250 collections were made in three days, totaling some 630 specimens.  Sites targeted included alpine habitat on Desolation Peak, and areas along Little Beaver and Perry creeks.  Alpine habitats were the focus in August, with groups collecting in the vicinity of Cascade Pass.  More than 300 collections (nearly 800 specimens) were made over three days from areas that included Sahalie Arm, and Boston, Horseshoe, and Pelton basins.  

By summer's end 28 volunteers had spent nine days in the field and had helped make 731 collections totaling 1,829 specimens.  All specimens from the trip were identified at WTU in fall 2002/winter 2003, with assistance provided by a Graduate Research Assistantship funded by North Cascades National Park.

Volunteers from WTU during the 2002 season included Phil and Barb Smith, Amy Dearborn, Cindy Spurgeon, Dena Grossenbacher, Jim Duemmel, Jeff Walker, Kimiora Ward, Nancy Job, Robert Goff, Ben Legler, Peter Zika, Alison Colwell, Andreas Tribsch, Diane Hennessey,  Don Knoke, Gerald Schneeweiss, Hanna Weiss, and Peter Schonswetter.

Participating NOCA staff included Michael Brondi, Greg Gust, Justin Hohn, Kelly O'neil, and Todd Neuberger.



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