This Week in Fish and Wildlife: Pine Marten return to the Little Belts
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Morgan Jacobsen explains the efforts to re-establish a Pine Marten population in a location they havenât been seen in, in more than 100 years.
and last updated 2021-01-28 10:50:02-05
BOZEMAN â This week we head back to the Little Belts for another relocation story.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Morgan Jacobsen explains the efforts to re-establish a Pine Marten population in a location they havenât been seen in, in more than 100 years.
The Pine Marten is in the weasel family and they are doing well in many places around southwest Montana.
BILLINGS, Mont. After scattering like wildfire in a gust of wind, 49 bighorn sheep have settled in to their new home in the Little Belt Mountains. “One ewe went 24 miles north on the day of the release, turned around and came back,” said Jay Kolbe, wildlife biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, […]
FWP launches project to restore marten to the Little Belt Mountains
MT FWP
By: Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
Posted at 11:29 AM, Jan 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-14 13:29:39-05
GREAT FALLS â Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and partners have begun an effort to restore marten to the Little Belt Mountains.
Marten, which are a member of the weasel family, were historically present in relatively isolated mountain ranges of central Montana, including the Little Belts, until they were extirpated within the last 100 years.
Because marten are generally unable to disperse naturally across large expanses non-forested habitat, FWP and partners developed a project to restore marten to the Little Belts. This involves capturing marten in parts of southwest Montana and relocating them to the Little Belts. However, the effort takes the help of many partners and FWP is collaborating with members of the Montana Trappers Association, Furbearers Unlimited, Fur Taker
BRETT FRENCH
After scattering like wildfire in a gust of wind, 49 bighorn sheep have settled in to their new home in the Little Belt Mountains.
âOne ewe went 24 miles north on the day of the release, turned around and came back,â said Jay Kolbe, wildlife biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks in White Sulphur Springs.
Kolbe was able to see the large movement because the animals are wearing GPS collars that reveal their location twice a day for as long as five years. One of the five rams trapped and relocated traveled about 10 miles east to the Judith Gap area after release before traveling back to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
Billings Gazette
Volunteer trappers working in concert with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks have captured 18 marten since early December for relocation to the Little Belt Mountains. They are the cutest little things, but they are really feisty, said Claire Gower, an FWP wildlife biologist based in Bozeman.
They are in super good condition, she added, except for one older male that had lost an eye, had a ripped ear and a grizzled face. He was a real bruiser.
Marten, a cat-sized member of the weasel family, were historically present in central Montanaâs mountain ranges, including the Little Belts. However, at some point within the last 100 years â possibly due to poisoning or unregulated trapping â the animals disappeared from the region.