BLM OR/WA Coos Bay Coastal Marten Surveys

Principal Investigator: Katie Moriarty, PhD, NCASI / Senior Research Scientist Western Forest Wildlife Ecologist

Collaborator: Oregon State University

Supported by: Bureau of Land Management. Award L20AC00052 for $49,500.

Project Summary: The Coastal marten is proposed for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, primarily due to a decrease in population connectivity and habitat conversion as well as the combined effects of vegetation management, wildfire, and climate change. This study will help clarify the martens’ current range and habitat.

To date, there are only four known population areas on the Pacific Coast, but there are gaps in widespread surveys, especially between the southern and central Oregon populations. The proposed work would survey in areas of relatively contiguous forested habitat with characteristics likely to support marten. NCASI will perform surveys for marten using camera traps and/or scat dogs, with collected scat confirmed by genetic testing. Approximately 60,000 acres will be surveyed over two years.

Having better information will allow land managers to make informed decisions about where marten populations are and how proposed actions may impact the marten population and its ability to persist.

Contact Katie Moriarty at kmoriarty@ncasi.org