Marten! Field Research in the News

Photo: Woodland Park Zoo

Sometimes field work is a slog: soaring temps, steep trail, mosquitoes so thick you feel like you’re in a Hitchcock film. This summer, my colleagues and I encountered all of these conditions during a backpack into the Buckhorn Wilderness in the Olympic Range.

Robert (my husband) and I were out there as part of our research with Woodland Park Zoo, collaborating with the Forest Service to survey for rare Pacific martens. We and our colleague, Betsy Howell, arrived at our campsite early in the evening. After downing a quick backpacking meal (um, yum?), we decided to go check one of the wildlife cameras we had deployed last summer in hopes that a marten would stop by over the winter. We put on our head nets and set out for the nearby station.

To say the bugs were nasty would be like saying the Olympic rainforest is a little damp.

At the survey site, we kicked into automatic. Robert climbed the tree to reach the camera, Betsy assisted on the ground, and I prepared our card reader to scan the memory card.

When we started reviewing the pics, there were the usual suspects—flying squirrel (cool), black bear (always cool)—and then a first for any camera-trapping project on the Olympic National Forest: We had documented a marten visit with photographs! You can read all about our successful find here.

Camp felt a little brighter when we returned, and we celebrated the little things that make big field days worthwhile.

More recently, we were accompanied by a film crew from KIRO 7 News, who did a fun story on this and other projects under the zoo’s Living Northwest program. The marten section begins about 10 minutes in, but watch the whole show below to brighten your own day.