Klamath Basin Ecological Connectivity for Pacific marten and Pacific fisher

Conservation Biology Institute is working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service to identify locations important for the Pacific marten (Martes caurina) and its close relative, the Pacific fisher (Pekania pennanti) in the Klamath River Basin region. These rare forest carnivores need habitat to hunt for prey and connections between their home-ranges and those of other individuals to find mates to sustain their populations into the future. The goal of this project is to help the agencies avoid species management conflicts that could arise from forest treatments and other activities, and to inform the Klamath Strategic Habitat Conservation Project.

Conservation Biology Institute’s role is to provide wildlife biology expertise; conduct modeling of species distributions, habitat cores and connectivity corridors, and areas of high fire risk; and document and deliver the results as spatial data using Data Basin.