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This Week in Fish and Wildlife: Pine Marten return to the Little Belts

Posted at 8:50 AM, Jan 28, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-28 10:50:02-05

BOZEMAN — This week we head back to the Little Belts for another relocation story.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' Morgan Jacobsen explains the efforts to re-establish a Pine Marten population in a location they haven’t been seen in, in more than 100 years.

The Pine Marten is in the weasel family and they are doing well in many places around southwest Montana.

FWP used volunteer trappers to capture these furry predators so they can be tested and studied before being released in the new location.

The hope is to have as many as 30 in the Little Belts and this population can continue to grow on its own.

Jacobsen says several local and national trapping organizations were instrumental in the captures, and the Safari Club International also provided some funding.

He also says it’s been more than a century since Pine Martens have been seen in the Little Belts, but historically there had been a large population in that area.

FWP courtesy video and the interview was conducted at Region-3 office.