Humboldt Marten

According to Keith Slauson of the U.S. Forest Service, the Humboldt Marten population is declining in Northern California. His assessment is based on decreased occupancy rates at track plate stations that detected Martens in 2000 and 2001 and were re-surveyed in 2008. Marten site occupancy rates declined 42 percent between 2000 and 2008. According to Slauson, the isolated survey population consists of less than 100 individuals. This is the only known population of Humboldt Martens in California. Recent genetic testing has confirmed this relictual population is of the Humboldt Marten sub-species, which was presumed extinct until 1995 when photographs of a Humboldt Marten were taken by a motion sensing camera near the Siskiyou Wilderness.