American Marten to be Reintroduced in Pennsylvania

[DaveKile]

A once common, native species to Pennsylvania, the American marten disappeared from the state 120 years ago due primarily to deforestation and unregulated harvest. Recently, the Pennsylvania Game Commission began considerations to potentially reintroduce the marten back to the state. A thorough feasibility study was completed and this video highlights many of the findings from this study as well as why this project is important to all Pennsylvanians. To learn more about the marten and the reintroduction project please see the PGC Marten Storymap linked at the end of this video.

More from the Game Commission here : https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Wildlife/WildlifeSpecies/Pages/American-Marten-.aspx

 

[Tigereye]

Prediction: in 20 years they will be reintroducing grouse and turkeys

 

[tomgamber]

we're polluted with turkey out there. Come get them.

 

[troutbert]

Do martens have good dubbings?

 

[Tigereye]

we're polluted with turkey out there. Come get them.

Hunted them 1x. Had a bad encounter with another hunter and that was it. Besides it interferes with fishing season

 

[rrt]

Say good-by to what is left of our grouse population. The plan is to put the martens where the grouse are now hanging on pretty well. The Pennsylvania Predator Re-establishment Commission (aka PGC) strikes again.

 

[krayfish2]

I can't wait for mountain lion reintroduction. I wish they would.

 

[Tigereye]

They are already here. " there is no breeding population" is the canned response.

Same can be said of pheasants.

 

[Fish Sticks]

it will be interesting to see what positive trophic interactions or secondary benefits to the ecosystem, if any, come back with them.

I have no idea what the duck a marten is.

Do they carry and deposit important plant seeds in their fur? Do they give a struggling bird more prey diversity at that level in the food web? Did other species evolve to use their burrows? Did they eat and control/balance populations of any plants that are taking over forrest floors?

They evolved here so my guess is they have some beneficial co-evolved interactions with other biota in our forests but I have no clue.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

American Marten | Martes americana

The American Marten (Martes americana) is a small, slender-bodied mammal found in conifer and mixed forests in the central Adirondacks and High Peaks regions of upstate new York.

www.wildadirondacks.org

I was curious too.

 

[Roofin' Trouter]

Prediction: in 20 years they will be reintroducing grouse and turkeys

I could see them relocating turkeys from more suburban settings in the future. I see more turkeys in York Co. than I do in North central PA.
I had not seen a grouse ,in the woods, for quite some time prior to 2021. I saw a few that year but more in 2022.
How vocal are these Martens? I don't think fishers sound musical, at all.

 

[DaveKile]

American Marten | Martes americana

The American Marten (Martes americana) is a small, slender-bodied mammal found in conifer and mixed forests in the central Adirondacks and High Peaks regions of upstate new York.

www.wildadirondacks.org

I was curious too.

American Marten: Diet​

The American Marten is an omnivore, meaning that it consumes both plant and nonplant material. However, the bulk of their diet consists of small mammals, especially rodents. They prey on Southern Red-backed Voles, Red Squirrels, Eastern Chipmunks, Northern Flying Squirrels, mice, moles, and shrews. Snowshoe Hares may also be taken, especially in winter. American Martens will also eat birds, birds' eggs, insects, reptiles, amphibians, earthworms, and carrion.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Interesting thanks Dave and 6x! I hope they eat the crap out of Lantern flies

 

[rrt]

On sites I just checked (but don't know how to transfer to here), martens are also credited for eating birds' eggs and birds. They cannot be good for our state bird, the ruffed grouse, which is having enough trouble.

One article noted that a marten invaded an osprey's nest and took all 3 eggs.

They are vicious little omnivores. Wildlife, especially birds, are having enough trouble in our world without unnecessarily adding another predator to their problems.

 

[Fish Sticks]

On sites I just checked (but don't know how to transfer to here), martens are also credited for eating birds' eggs and birds. They cannot be good for our state bird, the ruffed grouse, which is having enough trouble.

One article noted that a marten invaded an osprey's nest and took all 3 eggs.

They are vicious little omnivores. Wildlife, especially birds, are having enough trouble in our world without unnecessarily adding another predator to their problems.

Is there alot of habitat overlap? I am asking. It seems like martens like forrest with lots of down wood, stumps, burrows, under conifers from limited reading are grouse in that same type of habitat?

 

[salmo]

On sites I just checked (but don't know how to transfer to here), martens are also credited for eating birds' eggs and birds. They cannot be good for our state bird, the ruffed grouse, which is having enough trouble.

One article noted that a marten invaded an osprey's nest and took all 3 eggs.

They are vicious little omnivores. Wildlife, especially birds, are having enough trouble in our world without unnecessarily adding another predator to their problems.

So I guess the question is, how did the marten and the grouse co-exist before the marten was exteppated?

 

[salmo]

BTW the pheasant is another invasive species.

 

[Fish Sticks]

So I guess the question is, how did the marten and the grouse co-exist before the marten was exteppated?

Thats why I asked about the habitat overlap. Rarely do coevolved species not work out their differences so to speak over hundreds of thousands to millions of years.

However, ecological imbalances/multiple stressors can cause significant negative effects and mortality in imperiled species so its not impossible. But i am also curious about how these two species traditionally interacted during their coevolution.

 

[rrt]

Perhaps they co-existed adequately at one time. However, grouse are already in trouble from West Nile Virus. Their best remaining populations are in the very areas the PPRC want to place the martens, and the martens certainly will be another stressor on the grouse.

I guess it would be like adding a predator to a brook trout stream where the brook trout were already having trouble maintaining a viable population.

 

[jifigz]

It is what it is. There is someone out there fired up about anything and everything.

Maybe the marten will affect grouse, turkeys, etc. Maybe not. The natural world is so far removed from what it once was. I don't see many grouse around my parts, but here and there. I just saw a couple the other day while fishing a mountain creek.