American Marten at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
/MIWP board member Ned Hancock recently captured this American marten on video on Stockton Island. American Martens, an endangered species, were sighted in the Apostle Islands in 2015 for the first time in more than 40 years.
“Northland College Prof Erik Olson key researcher
American marten have been discovered on Manitou and Stockton islands in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for the first time in more than 40 years, park officials say.
An American marten was verified on Manitou Island in 2014 when a visitor took a photo of it running between his legs.
This past spring, when researchers began checking thousands of images from the 30 trail cameras they had placed on Stockton Island last winter, they were surprised to see a few images of American marten, a small mammal that’s on Wisconsin’s state endangered species list. To read the entire story visit the Duluth News Tribune.”
A trail camera on Stockton Island in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore captured this image of an American marten, winter 2015. Marten, which haven’t been documented on the islands in more than 40 years, are now thought to be inhabiting several islands. (Apostle Islands National Lakeshore photo)
Matt Smith in the Pauli Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been working to determine the colonization history of these martens on the islands.
Scientists are studying American martens to learn more about their colonization history on the Apostle Islands. NPS photo
“Investigating Martens at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
The American marten (Martes americana) is a mustelid that lives throughout northern North America. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore lies along the southern boundary of its range, and martens inhabit many of the park’s islands. Matt Smith in the Pauli Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is working to determine the colonization history of these martens on the islands. He is also quantifying habitat conditions that influence marten diet and population viability on five of the islands. Martens are a state endangered mammal in Wisconsin, and the research being conducted at Apostle Islands could lead to a better understanding of populations on the mainland as well.
Matthew distributes non-invasive hair traps on the islands to collect hair from the martens. Using DNA extracted from hair samples, they verify the species and obtain multi-locus genotypes to identify unique individuals. The team identified seventeen martens on Stockton Island, 8 on Cat Island, and 7 on Manitou Island. Preliminary results suggest the density of martens on Cat and Manitou Islands are high, and from the literature, these densities represent martens in high quality habitat.”
