Plans to reintroduce American martens to Pennsylvania tabled
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- The Pennsylvania Game Commission tabled plans to reintroduce American martens to the state.
The Game Commission's board met in Harrisburg Saturday and voted 6-3 to table the plan that would have brought the native species back about a century after it disappeared.
The commission developed a 10-year plan to translocate and monitor the species then put the strategy out for public comment in September. Nearly 1,000 people weighed in, and while most people were supportive, commissioners said a survey of hunters wasn't quite as enthusiastic.
Of the 9,000 responses from hunters, 37% supported reintroducing the American marten, while 32% opposed it and 31% were neutral. Commissioners noted that while the plan was well-researched, the results indicate the agency has some work to do with hunters before moving forward.
Commissioner Robert Schwalm, who voted in favor of tabling the plan, said he's concerned Pennsylvania's climate and forests have changed substantially in the past 100 years, and he wants more time to study whether a reintroduction would set the species up to disappear again.
Commissioner Dennis Fredericks, however, voted in favor of moving forward, calling the plan already developed "impeccable."
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says the American marten, formerly known as the pine marten, is an agile climber and long-time native resident before deforestation and unregulated harvest led to extirpation soon after the turn of the 20th century. Now martens can be found from Alaska, across Canada and down into Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and some states in the upper Midwest.
Historic records indicate American martens used to live in the northern part of the state, with the highest densities found in Warren, McKean, Potter, Forest, Elk, Cameron and Clinton counties, the Game Commission said.