With a new scat study, researchers are chipping away at solving a biological mystery on the central Oregon coast: the existence of an isolated population of a small but fierce forest predator that makes its home in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Pacific martens, which resemble a cross between a fox and a mink, are often associated with mature forests that provide their unique needs for denning, resting, and efficient hunting. However, a small, isolated subspecies known as the Humboldt marten occupies a narrow strip of young, coastal forest on sandy soils of the Oregon Dunes.
Wildlife biologists have spent the last several years trying to figure out not only how many Humboldt martens live in the dunes, but why.
A new study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, provides come clues. The findings were the result of a collaboration of Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station.
“We’re moving toward understanding why these martens are so rare,” said Taal Levi, a co-author on the study and a professor of wildlife biology in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.