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

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that the Humboldt marten, a rare forest carnivore found only in coastal old-growth forests in Northern California and southern Oregon, will be reviewed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Environmental Protection Information Center and Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for protection for the marten in 2010. The Humboldt marten is a cat-sized carnivore related to minks and otters. Because nearly all of its old-growth forest habitat has been destroyed by logging, the Humboldt marten is now so rare that it was believed extinct for 50 years.

“Fewer than 100 of these beautiful and secretive mammals survive,” said Tierra Curry, conservation biologist at the Center. “We are thrilled that the marten is moving toward the Endangered Species Act protection that it needs to have a real shot at survival and recovery.”

“Clearcut logging and short rotation forestry has replaced diverse native forests with oversimplified tree plantations across thousands of acres of industrial timberland, driving the Humboldt marten to the brink of extinction,” said Andrew Orahoske, conservation director at EPIC in Arcata. “In order to save this unique carnivore from oblivion, we need to ban this damaging forestry practice and promote the restoration of native forests immediately.”

The historic range of the marten extends from Sonoma County in coastal California north through the coastal mountains of Oregon. The Humboldt marten was rediscovered on the Six Rivers National Forest in 1996. Since that time, researchers have continued to detect martens using track plates and hair snares. In 2009 a marten was detected at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park by remote-sensing camera, the first to be photographed in recent times. Martens are 1.5 to two feet long and have large triangular ears and a long tail. They eat small mammals, berries, and birds, and are eaten by larger mammals and raptors

“The Endangered Species Act has been successful at preventing the extinction of 99 percent of listed species. The Humboldt marten is in dire need of this effective protection and we urge the Service to protect it without delay,” said Curry.

Following today’s “positive 90-day” finding, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will now conduct a one-year review of the animal’s status to determine if the marten will be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Contact: Andrew Orahoske, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC),

(707) 822-7711, andrew@wildcalifornia.org

Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681

Suitable wolf habitat in Northern California and Southern Oregon

Suitable wolf habitat in Idaho, Montana and greater Yellowstone

The questions and answers about wolves returning to California are becoming clearer day by day.  As biologists learn more about wolf behavior in Oregon, this knowledge will be directly applicable to California.  As leading wolf researchers have argued, large predators can make a comeback to California (Carroll et al 2001).   We are now beginning to see the proof.

At EPIC, we intend to advocate for wolves as strongly as we advocate for all native biological diversity in northern California.  That means continuing our important work in defending our forests and wild areas from exploitation and destruction.  Because of this work and the tireless efforts of many individuals to defend and restore our wild landscapes, we can offer something to this wild wandering wolf.   Whether he remains in our region is anyone’s guess, but we hope that he likes what he finds and is joined by more wolves in the near future.

Literature Cited:

Carroll, C., Phillips, M.K., Lopez-Gonzalez, C.A. and N. H. Schumaker.  2006.  Defining recovery goals and strategies for endangered species: the wolf as a case study. Bioscience 56:25-37.  Available at: http://www.klamathconservation.org/docs/carrolletal2001b.pdf

Carroll, C., Noss,R.F., Schumaker, N.H.and P. C. Paquet.  2001.  Is the return of the wolf, wolverine, and grizzly bear to Oregon and California biologically feasible?  Pp. 25-46. In:  Maehr D, Noss RF, Larkin J, Eds. Large Mammal Restoration: Ecological and Sociological Challenges in the 21st Century. Washington (DC): Island Press.

Now is the time for Green Diamond to take actions to protect these important mammals, by improving their practices across the forests within their ownership.

Thanks for reading!

~Kerul Dyer

Green Diamond Stop Clearcutting Campaign

Green Diamond and the Pacific Fisher

by Rob Diperna

The Fish and Game Commission is on the verge of deciding on the listing petition to protect the Pacific Fisher as “threatened” under the California Endangered Species Act. This action is urgently needed as Pacific Fisher populations decline and there is currently no regulatory mechanism to protect them.  The fisher is a specialized forest carnivore related to weasels and otters inhabiting mature and old-growth forests. They are arboreal hunters and are associated with dense canopy areas.

Pacific Fisher populations have been found throughout lands owned by Green Diamond.  In the past, Green Diamond has taken no measures to protect Pacific Fisher habitat other than to protect nests if discovered during logging.  Green Diamond does not survey for Pacific Fisher other than the use of track plates.  This method does not provide an adequate mechanism to determine population size and trends. This method also does not suffice to protect Pacific Fisher in the absence of Timber Harvest Plan level surveys.

Clearcutting and roads have been found to be a significant threat to the survival of the Pacific Fisher. Studies in the coastal and interior of the Northwest California have documented that the majority of moralities are due to predation events, and these predation events on fishers occurred in or closely associated with regenerating clearcuts and roads.

Green Diamond is of course claiming that the fisher population is not declining, and that Pacific Fisher will thrive on intensively logged lands.  The truth is however, that The Pacific fisher now occupies less than half the range it occupied in California 75 years ago.

Green Diamond also claims that the protection measures in its Northern Spotted Owl Habitat Conservation Plan, its voluntary deadwood management plan, and its Aquatics Habitat Conservation Plan are sufficient to protect fisher. However recent science suggests that there is not enough overlap between NSO and Pacific Fisher habitat and occurrences to ensure that protection for owls will be enough for the fisher.

The fact remains that on Green Diamond lands, large clearcuts and an extensive and ever-growing road system will continue to destroy fisher habitat and expose them to predators.

The Department of Fish and Game had issued an emergency regulation to protect landowners such as Green Diamond against take of Pacific Fisher, but these regulations have now expired.  Thus Green Diamond no longer has protection against take of Pacific Fisher until the Fish and Game Commission decides on the petition.

Green Diamond may add the Pacific Fisher to its newly proposed Northern Spotted Owl Habitat Conservation Plan.  This would mean that Green Diamond would acquire an Incidental Take Permit for Pacific Fisher.

Green Diamond’s standard logging practices of extensive clearcutting and endless road building pose a significant threat to the survival of the Pacific Fisher.  At present, the populations are too small, too isolated and not genetically diverse enough to withstand much more pressure.

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.

Additionally, the species shows direct links to old growth forest attributes at multiple spatial scales. These attributes have and continue to be lost and altered due to the logging of mature and old growth forests. Very little is understood about how wildlife diseases and large-scale wildfires (and associated back burns) play a roll in the population viability of small isolated populations of coastal marten. Marten, like most mammalian carnivores, are also susceptible to many diseases that affect domestic dogs. These diseases could play a roll in the protection of small populations of martens. Vaccination of martens may be necessary to prevent extinction.

The protection of Humboldt marten from extinction could also potentially require Forest Service to consider the marten’s needs during wildfire season. This would make them more responsible to protecting den sites and considering the affects of large-scale catastrophic fires on the viability and ecology of coastal marten populations. Some marten habitat is created during a light burning of the forest, including new snags and cavities. However, the direct and indirect effects of a large-scale disturbance to the habitat of an extremely small meta-population of coastal marten could potentially cause the loss of that population.

This loss would have a corresponding decrease in the amount of genetic variability across the sub-species’ range. The effects of fires during the summer of 2008 within the habitat of the coastal marten have yet to be studied. As Green Diamond is one of many neighbors to the martens living in Northwest California, their current management scheme may be affected by listing the Humboldt marten. Protection of coastal marten populations in Oregon could close the trapping season for martens in Oregon.

Maintaining suitable habitat to encourage population expansion as well as enhancing functional landscape connectivity between meta-populations should benefit the coastal marten in California and Oregon. Conservation of marten populations will require protection of areas currently occupied and the evaluation of whether strategic restoration of additional habitat is warranted.

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.