Pacific Marten Habitat Connectivity for Lassen National Forest

NCASI, Conservation Biology Institute, and the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station are developing and testing a Pacific marten habitat connectivity model within the Storrie Fire boundary for Lassen National Forest in California. The Storrie Fire and nexus area burned 27,000 acres in 2000 on the Lassen National Forest, including marten habitat and potentially a key habitat corridor for marten population connectivity in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. The marten habitat connectivity model will be a critical tool for the Lassen National Forest to develop future marten habitat restoration recommendations and management.

We are using the largest GPS-derived dataset for martens globally to identify vegetative and abiotic characteristics correlated with marten occupancy and movement in the Lassen region. Our research objectives include: (1) developing habitat suitability and habitat connectivity models using both fine-scale marten location data and fine-scale vegetation data, (2) applying the models to identify areas with reduced or restricted connectivity, specifically within the Storrie Fire footprint, that could be targeted for management or restoration, and (3) testing the predictive ability of models using field survey methods, including evaluating connectivity of juvenile or dispersing martens.