Pine martens make a comeback with a little help from technology.

Eavesdroppers traveled the Manistee National Forest last winter. Their ears were tuned in to hear radio transmitter
signals coming from rare pine martens that were reintroduced some years ago in this forest and the Pigeon River Country State Forest. Pine martens were once a common native of Michigan’s northern forests, but had been missing from the state after logging, waves of wildfires, and human development destroyed their habitat.

The radio collars, coming from pine martens that were captured and released, allowed the eavesdroppers to track the martens’ movements and locations. The eavesdroppers are four Central Michigan University students working on master’s degrees in conservation biology by tracking the movement of pine marten descendants released to restored forest habitats years after they disappeared from the state. The two women researchers spent the past two years tracking these human-shy furbearers.

“We’re in our second year of the project and have spent time searching for fresh marten tracks after each fresh snow, then setting out live traps to try to capture them for genetic sampling and collaring,” said Sara Bicker. She’d been working in the Manistee National Forest in the Baldwin Ranger District with fellow graduate student researcher Lynnea Shunta.

Bicker swept areas of the forest with an antenna, listening for the telltale collar signal. Shunta kept track of each signal or track by taking Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) locations and recording all data. Since this small relative of the weasel is rarely seen, and with only a small population in the region, the women spent many hours in the field trying to gather any evidence of marten movement and migration patterns in all seasons.

“We have two other graduate students working on the project—both men—and they are doing the same in the Pigeon River Country State Forest, the other major northern Lower Peninsula release site for martens. Eric Nelson and Clay Buchanan are also in a second year in this project,” said Bicker.

The project had support from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa Indians, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the DNR Wildlife Division, and other support from the Forest Service which made housing available for the pair working out of Baldwin’s Ranger Station. Special support has also come from a Safari Club International “Michigan Initiative Committee” grant.

Martens utilize a forest habitat with both living and standing dead trees and woody debris on the ground, a habitat that supports mice and voles, a prime food source for marten, Shunta explained. That habitat is now back—and so are a small number of marten in what has proved to be a successful “return of the native.”

The women traveled the back roads and two-tracks in a pickup truck fitted with a fixed tracking antenna, and when they picked up a signal they’d stop to pinpoint the location and signal direction.

When fresh tracks were found, they left live traps nearby, baited with beaver and other animal flesh donated by trappers, in hopes of capturing other martens for closeup examination.

Last year they captured, examined, radio-collared and released seven martens—two males and five females. (Ten others were trapped, studied, and released in Pigeon River Country by the other researchers in the study.)

Captured martens were tranquilized to allow for safe handling, since they have very sharp teeth and a nasty temper.

“We take some DNA samples—skin cell scrapes from the ears and a cheek swab—to get DNA material to send to the lab. Then we place a radio signal collar on them and release them back to the wild. We can then follow their movements and record the information on where they are moving,” Shunta explained.

The two women continued their field works on into spring and then spent the next year writing up their findings and preparing for their dissertations.

The beneficiaries of their research will be the martens, one of the few extinguished native species to make a comeback after being missing from the state for nearly a century.

The real winners are the martens—and those who love all wild things.