Ashland Daily Press: Martens move into Madeline Island. Weasel-like animal documented for first time in a century.

Peter J. Wasson pwasson@ashlanddailypress.net
Dec 6, 2023
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Scientists at Northland College have documented perhaps the first American marten on Madeline Island in more than a century.

Those glowing eyes and perky ears were enough for scientists at Northland College to document the return of theAmerican marten, also known as the pine marten or waabizheshiwag in the Ojibwe language, to Madeline Island. Photo contributed by Erik Olson, Northland College

Olson

The return of the weasel-like animal is important for several reasons. First, it is the only mammal listed as endangered by the state, so any sighting is good news. But more important, Northland biology professor Erik Olson said it suggests that martens are reproducing in the Apostle Islands and their offspring then are moving to recolonize northern Wisconsin — including the Red Cliff area.

American martens also are known as pine martens or, to the Ojibwe people, waabizheshiwag — one of the animals that represent different Native clans.

Olson and some of his students have been tracking wildlife with cameras as part of their Wild Madeline Project. That’s how the housecat-sized animal was discovered earlier this fall — student assistant Sydni Bennette was scanning photos and spotted a pair of glowing eyes and perky ears above a shadowy body in the night.

“If you think about it, imagine the last time American marten were on Madeline Island, ”Olson said. “I can only guess, but my hunch is the early 1900s or even earlier. It’s kind of fascinating to see a species naturally return.”

Martens likely were wiped out in the area by habitat loss and unregulated trapping — their fur is similar to a sable’s — that came with European settlement, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The Wild Madeline Project has recorded all sorts of animals, including coyotes and bears, living on the island. It’s next development will be a website that will allow users to see the distribution of life on the islands. Contributed photo by Erik Olson, Northland College

But for centuries before that, they thrived. In Ojibwe culture, they represent a warrior clan and served as pipe-carriers to chieftans, according to Red Cliff wildlife technician Ron Nordin Jr. He and others in Red Cliff have been tracking the marten’s return to reservation lands since the DNR released in northeast Wisconsin 139 animals that were captured in Minnesota between 1987 and 1990.

“It’s actually quite significant seeing them across the Apostle Islands and Madeline now,” Nordin said. “Also, in Red Cliff here on the mainland. It’s exiting to see them expanding out, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them in Bad River soon.”

Martens are shy and elusive animals. Red Cliff wildlife technician Ron Nordin, whose department has been tracking martens for years, said he has never encountered one outside a trap. Photo contributed by Red Cliff Treaty Natural Resources and Wildlife Department

Nordin and Olson said the Apostle Islands offer martens almost the perfect conditions to thrive — though Madeline Island presents challenges as the only populated part of the archipelago. People bring dogs, landscaping and other threats to the animal.

“They tend to do really well in the subnivean habitat — the habitat beneath the snow,”Olson said. “What we think might be happening is across the islands, there’s a lot of unique habitat near the ground. So when they get a lot of lake-effect snow, that structure creates really good habitat for prey — red-backed voles and deer mice. That habitat structure is likely helping martens, too, providing shelter and prey.”

The marten is about the size of a house cat and thrives in the snow, which both protects it from birds of prey and provides access to its favorite prey.NPS / Jacob W. Frank

Shelter beneath the snow is important, Nordin said, because birds of prey find martens delicious.

“They need a really thick canopy and lots of woody debris on the ground,” he said. “They’re in competition with fishers, and raptors can pick them off, especially if they are out in clearcut areas.”

The key to the marten’s surviving and thriving may be those red-backed voles that, to the untrained eye, look like pretty much any other mouse. But the Apostles have a healthy population of the critters, providing an ample food source to martens and other members of the weasel family, such as the much larger fisher.

The red-backed vole thrives in the Apostle Islands — just ask any camper who catches them searching for food scraps— and might be key to the marten’s success. Contributed photo

The marten documented by Olson and his research assistants was actually photographed in 2022 by an automatic trail camera. But the camera wasn’t retrieved until this year, and its photos were reviewed over the summer and early fall — which is when Bennette spotted those glowing eyes and the marten was identified.

The red-backed vole thrives in the Apostle Islands — just ask any camper who catches them searching for food scraps— and might be key to the marten’s success. Contributed photo

Olson said the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore should continue to serve as anideal incubator for more martens to give birth to kits that then will move into areas in which they won’t compete with others of their kind.

“If you can envision having a species naturally recolonizing into the habitat they once occupied, it’s one of those really hopeful stories,” Olson said. “It’s a sign we’re doing something right.”

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