{"id":495493,"date":"2026-02-28T11:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495493\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T11:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:14:09","slug":"the-mystery-behind-the-multitude-of-martens-in-interior-alaska-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495493\/","title":{"rendered":"The mystery behind the multitude of martens in Interior Alaska this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This marten visits a home on Ester Dome west of Fairbanks. Its feet are more than twice as large as an equal-size mink\u2019s. Those big furry feet are possibly an adaptation for deep snow. (Photo by Zane Nicholson) <\/p>\n

A trapper fresh out of the Cosna River country in Interior Alaska said he can\u2019t believe how many martens he had caught in a small area so far this winter.<\/p>\n

Friends are talking about the housecat-size creatures visiting their wood piles and porches. Could this be a boom in the number of these handsome woodland creatures?<\/p>\n

Probably, said wildlife education specialist Mike Taras of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was out in the (White Mountains National Recreation Area north of Fairbanks) a couple of weeks ago, I saw marten tracks everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cMy friend had a hare bound close towards him while he was out near Wolf Run cabin and then a marten came loping after the hare hot on its trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A marten visits the Fairbanks home of Tim Walker. Walker has seen the animal several times. (Photo by Tim Walker) <\/p>\n

The biologist and tracking expert doesn\u2019t even have to leave home to see signs of marten this spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI currently have a marten coming by my place at the edge of (Creamer\u2019s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge) about once a week. It is great to see her tracks \u2014 though it could be a juvenile male. I have noticed more marten tracks out on Creamer\u2019s refuge in the past few years as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cosna River area trapper, Steve O\u2019Brien, said he thought \u201cmore mice\u201d were a possible reason for marten abundance this year. Taras suspected the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch shows that the No. 1 driver of marten populations is vole numbers,\u201d Taras said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think there is concrete evidence of high vole numbers this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Taras has seen some circumstantial evidence recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have noticed multitudes of ventilation tunnel holes on top of the snow after these recent snowstorms,\u201d Taras said. \u201cThat many holes on top of the snow shortly after the snow makes me think that there are a lot of voles out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mice-like voles have pushed up vent holes that connect to their subnivean worlds here at Creamer\u2019s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. (Photo by Mike Taras) <\/p>\n

Whatever the cause for increased marten numbers, now is perhaps a good time to see these predators of the northern woods. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne trapper aptly described them as walking stomachs,\u201d Tom Paragi, a retired wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, told me 26 years ago. \u201cThey\u2019re one of the easier animals to trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other members of the weasel family, marten hunt and kill small animals, most often voles, though they sometimes eat snowshoe hares, young birds and blueberries.<\/p>\n

Marten feed on red squirrels in other parts of North America, but in Alaska biologists have seen marten sharing squirrels\u2019 underground network of winter tunnels without killing them.<\/p>\n

Marten aren\u2019t afraid to tackle animals their own size, Paragi said. He once pieced together a marten drama evident by tracks left behind in the snow. He observed where a marten paused during its wandering after seeing a goshawk perched on a low tree limb.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ken Geiser of Fairbanks points to a live marten he saw clinging to the top of a birch tree off the Elliott Highway in December 2024. (Photo by Ned Rozell) <\/p>\n

He could tell by blood and other marks that the marten killed the goshawk, making a meal of a raptor that could have had the marten for lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are fairly fearless,\u201d Paragi said.<\/p>\n

Marten are loners, roaming forests solo except for a few weeks during the breeding season. They seem to prefer mature conifer forests for birthing and raising young, and use hollow logs for dens.<\/p>\n

The marten is one of a few mammals able to delay part of its reproductive cycle. Marten mate in midsummer when food is plentiful, but fertilized eggs within females don\u2019t implant into the uterus wall until springtime, a phenomenon triggered by longer days. Marten kits are born in late March to mid-April. In August, the youngsters go their own ways, beginning solitary lives that can last up to 14 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This marten visits a home on Ester Dome west of Fairbanks. Its feet are more than twice as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[208108,79,201],"class_list":["post-495493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-marten","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}