I'm just thumbing through The Wisconsin Trapper magazine that came in the mail today. There's an article about our efforts about marten restoration. It seems in places in Eurasia where they were introduced they really took off but here in Wisconsin which is in their original range they are struggling.

Are these critters just not adaptable? I would think we would be able to breed more resilient and fertile varieties.

Marten need unfragmented contiguous forest with good overhead cover-80% or better and lots of coarse woody ground debris.Also standing large dead chicots are important for nesting.This is core marten habitat.They will use other habitats but need the core areas connected.
Fragmented forest means after the population lows the habitat cannot be readily populated from core areas before the next low.

I would surmise that your forested areas in Wisconsin are too fragmented to sustain good marten populations.

The 80% cover is to protect from raptors?

Not sure what a chicot is.

You are not going to like this, but it is hard to set baited or lured traps for anything where marten are and not catch marten.

That's true. My Son Bridger and I caught a dang marten in a coyote set in Wyoming.

I suspect there may be some validity in Boco's post about undisturbed areas.

Also, what other critters are in the area that will compete with marten. Fisher ? Fox ??

What is in that area for them to eat ?

Marten are NOT receptive to breeding in captivity so trying to adapt them in captivity is not likely to be successful

The overhead cover is assumed to give them some protection from raptors,but I believe there is more to it than that-more to do with the shade on the snowcover to keep the subnivean environment conducive to hunting.

Chicots are standing dead timber in mature forest

I live very close to a marten restoration zone. They seemed to be doing well until fisher were reintroduced into the same area. Now the area, mostly designated Wilderness, is awash with fishers. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Yes there are only a few places in Ontario where both fishers and marten both do well and that is in central Ontario.
Where I am there is not an overabundance of fisher so marten are the predominant species right now.
In the 1940's there were very few marten but a lot of fisher in this area according to the old timers I have spoken with like Paul Millette.
South eastern Ontario is polluted with fisher and there are no marten.

Wisconsin Marten Management Plan

American marten abundance is greater in areas of northern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan than in Wisconsin. Scientists from these other states have recently observed or suspected a decline in marten abundance, which has resulted in a reduced harvesting season in Minnesota. Most martens trapped in both states are from areas of high snow fall and snow pack depths and landscapes comprised of greater amounts of coniferous forests (e.g., spruce-fir forests).

Many of these scenarios should have little effect on martens, but the significantly reduced snow pack levels predicted are the exception. Notaro et al. (2011) predicted a 21-29% decrease in snowfall and 48-68% decrease in snow pack levels in Wisconsin by 2050. This result would substantially decrease the foot-loading advantage martens have over other carnivores during winter and likely increase predation rates. Consistently reduced snow levels may eliminate the competitive advantage martens have over fishers

They have been flushing money for years down the Marten toilet. But It's keeping some researcher's employed.
We just don't have the habitat nor the food base here In WI.
And I believe that you can't use foot hold traps those marten recovery areas.

I think you can use foothold traps but they gotta have at least 4 lbs of pan tension. I could be wrong though, I don't pay much attention to those rules because I don't trap there.

Maybe there was historic record of marten in WI but what is that record? One sighting? A bunch of furs that were sold? Basically, what is the magnitude of the historic record that they are using to support their reintroduction?

Based on their success it would seem best for WI to admit they don’t have boreal forest (because they really don’t) and to abandon marten as a project.

I agree with what others have stated . Here in NY’s 6 million acre Adirondack Park the Marten have expanded their range right up to the Black River Valley, that separates the ADK’s from the 2100 square mile Tug Hill Plateau. Many experts say the fisher population in the ADKs are in decline and maybe that is why the Marten are prospering there ? Tug Hill seems to have the habitat for Marten, however Tug Hill is awash with fisher, and I and DEC Biologists think that is what is inhibiting the Marten from gaining a foothold on the Hill.

BOCO what is your bobcat population? It seems here in Pa our bobcat population is decreasing with the increase of the fishers. I might be wrong and maybe there is no relation between the two and just my observation. My little bobcat hollow (as I call it) now has fisher and no cats are there??????? Just a one person observation........jk

Competition for food is a big factor, I recently moved from the Park Falls area and the over abundance of cats had the fisher numbers way down, I quit applying for tags years ago. I have no idea what's going on in the Clam Lake Martin restoration area, I seen one Martin in 15 years, seemed to be plenty of cats, but no idea on fisher. Maybe they changed it but there was no land trapping in the Martin restoration zone. The four pound rule would at least allow some predator trapping, if true.

I sorely wish the martens around here would listen to all this stuff about 80% cover, chicots and areas of high snow fall and snow pack depths and landscapes comprised of greater amounts of coniferous forests.

We have practically none of that. Yet, since they secretly reintroduced them, in the east (No body admits to this. It's just not talked about. But, their last known toe hold was in the far west.) Now, they're spreading like a plague, west and heading south.

We're tripping over the darn things here and they're totally protected by law. Can't even look at one sideways. And, yes; They thrive in just about every type of environment we have to throw at them.

Definitely habitat dependent. Areas here in Michigan where I can almost guarantee a marten in our short limited 9 day season, but 5 miles away I've never seen trace of one.

Granted, I have caught them in open mature hardwoods, but there was black swamp and/or edge habitat within eyesight.

As usual Boco is spot on with his description of habitat.

This is a very interesting observation.

And some guys in Idaho and Wyoming are starting to encounter marten in riparian zones in sage brush country. Perhaps marten are adapting/evolving to new habitats simultaneously around the globe.

Coyotes in North America seemed to adapt almost overnight to urban environments during the 1970's. And wolf populations have taken-off globally in the past decade or two.

Not sure If Ontario even has a bobcat population I trapped there for 7 weeks and caught 5 Lynx but never saw a bobcat track . My buddy who I traped with In Ontario had to come to South Carolina to catch a bobcat and a grey fox .