The Pine Marten which step by step and tree by tree is returning to the Great Lakes and New England States has reoccupied its mesocarnivore role in Wisconsin woodlands..........Extirpated by the 1920's as deep pine woods got logged out, Wisconsin transplanted Martens back into recovering forests in the 1980's and now has approved a management plan that sets a 300 population goal(260 of the little "climbers" are thought to exist now) that biologists project will sustain the Marten for the next 100 years.........Considered an "umbrella" species that benefits pileated woodpecker and barred owl populations, the tough litte Marten puts another piece of the "wild" back into Wisconsin.............A good day it is when State Game Commisions restore carnivores as well as browsers to to the system

Natural Resources Board OKs plan for endangered American marten



RON SEELY
Wisconsin State Journal

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State Department of Natural Resources photo


By the 1920s, with Wisconsin's old-growth northern forests mostly lost to the sawmill, a small but tenacious native animal that loves deep woodlands appeared as doomed as the big stands of white pine in which it flourished. For decades, Wisconsin forests would be absent the American marten and its curious ways.

But the marten, also known as the pine marten, is back again in the heart of some of the state's most remote and piney pockets. On Wednesday the state Natural Resources Board approved a new management plan for the state-endangered animal that is designed to ensure the marten's place in northern forests once again for decades to come. The plan will continue an effort that started in the mid-1980s with relocation of martens from other states to Wisconsin.

"They like the deep, dark older forests of Wisconsin," said Jim Woodford, a conservation biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources who has worked for years on the project to return the American marten to the Northwoods. "They represent the wilderness. That's a big selling point to me."

In fact, Woodford said, the marten is perhaps one of the best indicators that Wisconsin's northern forests are healthy. In biological parlance, it is known as an "umbrella" species. When the environment is improved to help martens, other species also flourish, including the pileated woodpecker and barred owl.
Besides such practical reasons for ensuring the marten's future, Jonathon Gilbert, with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, said the marten is important in the cultural life of the state's Chippewa tribes. He said the American marten is a clan animal with spiritual significance to the tribes, which are working with the DNR, along with the U.S. Forest Service, on managing the species.

Woodford told the Natural Resources Board on Wednesday that two major populations of the American marten now live in Wisconsin, both in remote areas of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. One population is centered in Iron and Ashland counties while another is to the east in Forest County. The total population is difficult to estimate because of the animal's furtive, nocturnal habits, according to Woodford, but could be around 260 or more. The management plan approved by the board, which calls for more studies of the animal as well as management of forests to foster marten habitat, indicates that a population of around 300 is probably best for guaranteeing that the marten numbers remain healthy for the next 100 years.
"We think Wisconsin needs the American marten," Woodford said.











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