Research Projects

Baseline and initial monitoring assessment of Martes americana, the Pine Marten, at Heavenly Ski Resort, Lake Tahoe

PI: Mary Cablk

Project Period: December 2001 - November 2002

Funded by: Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and Pacific Southwest Region - U.S. Forest Service

Right: Pine Marten

Keywords: Martes americana, Pine Marten, Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, forest carnivore, ski resort

Summary

The American Marten, Martes americana, is endemic to and found throughout North America in coniferous dominated montane forests (Ruggiero et al., 1993; Spencer et al., 1983). In a 1994 USFS General Technical Report, Ruggerio et al. identified management considerations and research needs for marten within eight categories: distribution and taxonomy, population ecology, reproductive biology, food habits and predator-prey relationships, habitat relationships, home range, community interactions, and conservation status. While these issues were addressed in terms of marten populations throughout their greater geographic range, there is much to be learned about local populations in the Sierra Nevada of Nevada and California in each and all of these categories. A 1993 meeting hosted by the California Owl EIS team in Redding, CA, on the status of marten and fisher resulted in a wealth of comments that can be summarized as the collective recognition that relatively little is known about marten in the Pacific Southwest. Kucera et al. (1995) described the current distribution of marten in California based on field surveys. Zielinski and Stauffer (1996) published a survey design specifically for marten in California. Foresman and Pearson (1998) follow up with a comparison of two survey methods, track plates and remote cameras. Almost all of the published literature and data collected on marten in the Sierra Nevada are on the western slopes. The conditions on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada are very different and thus studies targeting populations found here are necessary to fully understand status and dynamics of these marten.

Impacts to marten at ski resorts are unknown from both individual animal and population perspectives. Recreation at ski areas across the country is expanding in terms of number of users and number of user-days as winter resorts become summertime recreation destinations for hikers, mountain-bikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts. Heavenly Ski Resort at Lake Tahoe boasts 29 ski lifts including a high-speed gondola that shuttles eight skiers to the top of the Von Schmidt trail in under 12 minutes, or approximately 2800 people an hour. With one of the US's largest snowmaking systems, up to 69% of Heavenly's 84 runs may be covered by man-made snow. During the winter months when the landscape is under snowpack, heavily used areas are restricted to groomed and ungroomed trails, inter-trail treed islands, and the within-boundary backcountry. Snowmaking may impact marten in the late fall or early winter or during times of low precipitation in peak season months, although these impacts are undocumented.

Figure 1: (Left above) Heavenly ski area, Stateline, Lake Tahoe and Freel Peak, looking to SE (4m lkonos on 10m DEM). Figure 2. (Right above) Nevada side of Heavenly looking west (4m lkonos on 10m DEM). Transects in black, snow-tracks of marten in yellow, camera stations in blue and green dots.

This research project will result in collection and analysis of baseline data, develop a viable methodology that will quantify specific aspects of marten at Heavenly Ski Resort and provide a monitoring protocol. Marten were last documented at Heavenly in 1993. The objective of this project is to document continued marten occurrence at Heavenly and to provide an initial analysis of the status of marten and quantify their use of the resort landscape compared to adjacent undeveloped forested lands.

More Pine Marten images

References

Foresman, K.R. and D.E. Pearson. 1998. Comparison of proposed survey procedures for detection of forest carnivores. Journal of Wildlife Management 62(4):1217-1226.

Kuchera, T.E., W.J. Zielinski, and R.H. Barrett. 1995. Current distribution of the american marten, Martes americana, in California. California Fish and Game 81(3):000-000.

Ruggiero, L.F., K.B. Aubry, S.W. Buskirk, L.J. Lyon, and W.J. Zielinski. 1994. The scientific basis for conserving forest carnivores: American Marten, Fisher, Lynx, and Wolverine in the western United States. USDA Forest Service GTR RM-254.

Spencer, W.D., R.H. Barrett, and W.J. Zielinski. Marten habitat preferences in the northern Sierra Nevada. Journal of Wildlife Management 47(4):1983.

Zielinski, W.J. and H.B. Stauffer. 1996. Monitoring Martes populations in California: Survey design and power analysis. Ecological Applications 6:1254-1267.

Project Research Assistant

Lucas Habib was awarded, through a competitive process, the opportunity to work on this project as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Education for Undergraduate (REU). Lucas will conduct independent research in the Inyo National Forest at Mammoth and June Lake Ski Resorts, California, this summer, 2002. Working with Dr. Cablk and Inyo NF officials, Lucas will add to the Heavenly project and be a foundation player in examining the eastern Sierra Nevada marten populations.

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