Humboldt Marten at a bait station for observation in Six Rivers NF.

The Humboldt marten, a sub-species of American pine marten, was historically known to range through out the coastal counties of Northern California, and museum specimens exist from the redwoods. The sub-species was thought to be extinct for around fifty years until 1995, when researchers found a small population of martens in Northern California living within the historic range of the sub-species in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Recent genetics tests indicate martens in this relictual Northern California population are similar genetically to the museum specimens, as well as coastal marten in Oregon. Both coastal marten subspecies (M. a. humboldtensis and M. a. caurina) are genetically different from the Sierra population (M. a. sierrae) in Eastern California.

Survey results over the last 15 years demonstrate that the American pine marten is absent from large portions of its historical range, with the most severe loss within the range of the Humboldt marten. Most recent surveys (Summer 2008) for the Humboldt marten in Northern California show further reason for concern. While some sites that were previously occupied in 2000-2001 could not be re-visited due to wildfire and back burns, many previously occupied sites did not get detections in 2008. Survey data suggests a decline in marten occupancy at re-visited sites. Most of these sites had the poorest quality habitat. Survey data also suggests that there are currently less than 100 Humboldt marten left in Northern California, but that there could also be less than 50 individuals in this small isolated population. Martens are also absent from many areas of the historical range of M. a. caurina in Oregon.

There is serious reason for concern about the viability of small coastal populations of martens. Extinction in the very near foreseeable future is a very real possibility without protecting this sub-species. Multiple authorities voice concern about the status of marten populations in the Pacific states. The marten is designated as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Game, a vulnerable species by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a sensitive species by the U.S. Forest Service.

Populations of coastal martens in California and Oregon are small and isolated due to distribution of suitable habitat, effects of timber harvesting, and the historical effects of fur trapping. Fur harvests caused local and regional extirpations and declines and decades of protection from trapping have not resulted in the recovery of martens in coastal northwestern California. Martens can still be legally trapped in western Oregon. (more…)

Late last week EPIC and our allies filed a lawsuit asserting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has illegally delayed Endangered Species Act protection for the Pacific fisher, a relative of the mink. Read the full press release here.

This little critter has been decimated by historic fur trappers and their habitat destroyed by widespread old-growth logging. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged in 2004 that the fisher warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act but claimed such protection was precluded by listing of other species considered a higher priority. Hundreds of species have been caught in the purgatory of this “warranted but precluded” designation.