Littlest field assistant for Cascade red fox monitoring

My 8-month old son Luca.

New photos from Mt Adams

A couple of mystery carnivore photos below and a little fawn and its momma at the bottom. Send us your best guesses: cascadescarnivore@gmail.com

What does marten scat look like?

We have partnered with Friends of the Central Cascades Wilderness in an effort to survey for the Sierra Nevada red fox on the Deschutes National Forest.

Guest post by Todd West, Friends of the Central Cascades Wilderness.

American martens (Martes americana) share habitat with montane red foxes (Vulpes vulpes cascadensis, V. v. necator) and coyotes (Canis latrans), and their scats are often encountered along trails when we look for fox sign.  As the smallest of these three carnivores, their scats are also the smallest, typically 1/4 of an inch in diameter or a little bigger (5-8mm) and two to four inches long (5-10 cm). Practice is needed to consistently distinguish them.  Often bent or curled up, marten scats are dark in color, often dark green, and commonly exhibit a plated look from curls of hair within the scat.  Over time, digested material will erode away from the scats, leaving bundles of curled hair.  Larger marten scats occasional exceed 3/8 of an inch diameter (10 mm) and five inches length (13 cm), approaching the size of red fox scats. However, they can be distinguished from fox scats by their twisty ends and tighter plating compared to the tubular look of fox scats.

Here are a few photos of individual marten scats which have been identify by DNA sequencing.



Hair bundles from several older marten scats appear in the photo below.  This sample was also mtDNA confirmed.

The remainder of the photos below are of scats which have been visually identified as marten but not mtDNA sequenced.  As above, a variety of size, shape, and dryness is shown.

When berries are available scats shift color and consistency.  This marten had apparently been consuming ripe huckleberries in the Mount Washington Wilderness.

It is common to encounter multiple scats near each other.  In this case an older marten scat appears at upper left with a fresher one at lower right.

As with other species, scats are typically left in the middle of the trail and less commonly along the sides.  If a trail has prominences, such as rocks or roots, in its tread martens may preferred these locations for scats.  The rock below provided a step in the middle of the trail with two fresher scats at left and an older, somewhat rain spread, scat at right.

Scat grouping also occurs across species.  In the below example the small, fresher marten scat just above the GPS was laid next to a coyote scat (also visually identified and not DNA tested).

Marten scats may be left repeatedly in some areas, increasing the size of the group.  The below image contains three or perhaps four scats of increasing age.  Larger groups often have additional smaller groups nearby, with occasionally as many as 7 to 15 scats within a 20 foot radius (6 m).





Distinct population segments and the Endangered Species List

The distinct population segment (DPS) is conservation science jargon for a population that is unique and separate from the species as a whole. The term allows conservationists to propose putting part of a species on the Endangered Species List if the species as a whole is to not in danger of extinction. It is a way to preserve biodiversity within a species. The distinct population segment needs to be discrete and significant in order to merit inclusion on the Endangered Species List as an Endangered or Threatened Species. Individual critters or plants that make up a DPS  need to be some how biologically unique from the rest of the species to be considered as such, maybe bigger or smaller, or they may eat different prey, or mate at a different time of year, or have genes that are totally distinct from the rest of the species.

     Sierra Nevada red fox near Sonora Pass, CA (c) 2007 D. Baxter

Last Thursday, the Federal Government published what is called their 12-month findings - the decisions on whether to include a whole host of species on the Endangered Species List. When individuals or organizations think a species is in need of protection and inclusion on the list, they may submit a proposal outlining their reasons and the government has 12-months to respond, weighing the data and opinions presented to them. They must decide whether to list the species as in danger of extinct (Endangered), threatened with Endangerment (Threatened), or not in need of protection. Up for consideration was the Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator). This closest relative of the Cascade red fox inhabits the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades in Oregon and California (Mount Lassen but not Mount Shasta). Based on what is known about this group of mountain foxes,  the Federal Government decided that this subspecies occurs as two DPS's (one if California and one in Oregon), that the California DPS warrants listing but the Oregon DPS does not because several recent detections have occurred in the state. Unfortunately the California DPS listing is Warranted But Precluded. More jargon, to mean that the populations in California are in desperate need of protection under the ESA, as they occur as two tiny populations of less than 45 individuals each, but the federal government is not willing to provide support to fund the steps necessary to bring the fox back from the brink.

This is all interesting news for one like myself who has a strong interest in the preservation of the Cascade red fox in Washington. From what the genetic and photographic data that I have collected on the Cascade red fox suggests, these critters occurs as several small populations in southern Washington and are very limited in distribution in the North Cascades. So the decisions made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service vis a vis the Sierra Nevada red fox are telling for decisions made on behalf of the Cascade red fox. If I have learned anything from this ESA listing process, it is that data is power. Without explicit, compelling information, the government and perhaps the citizenry as well, are unlikely to react. It gives me motivation to continue the research we do on these little studied carnivores.

Cascade Mountain School: PCT Game Trail Carnivore Camera Setup

A group of four from the 2015 Cascade Mountain School Field Ecology Course posted a camera approximately one mile south of the Stagman Ridge trail on the Pacific Crest Trail, north of the trail on Monday August 10 around 10:00 am. We chose this area because it is located near a drainage and a trail, both of which animals use for travel. At the top of the drainage is a small meadow with a copse of live trees among a forest of burnt trees. It will be interesting to see if foxes still inhabit the area after the recent year’s forest fires and at lower elevations with changing temperatures due to climate change. The camera and scent lure are at a north-south orientation with the camera facing north to avoid direct sunlight at all times of day. We placed the scent lure on an easy access side of the tree to encourage approach from the front in the camera’s view. There is also a game trail passing through the view of the camera and multiple rocky areas possible for denning. Due to the aforementioned features we think the area is a likely fox habitat and an ideal camera location.

~Spunky Grizzlies
Rachel the Mountain Goat, Maria the Black Bear, Ankita the Anteater, Luca the Chinchilla

Cascade Mountain School: Horseshoe Meadow Carnivore Camera Setup

The Cascade Mountain School is an ecology program set for teens inspired to learn about and help prevent climate change. This year, I spent a morning with the students on their 2 week field ecology course to talk about carnivore ecology in the Cascade Mountains as part of their 6-day backpacking trip on Mount Adams. The overarching goals of the school are to 1) cultivate individual responsibility and personal growth, 2) fostering creation of community and understanding of the natural world, and 3) excel in scientific inquiry, systems thinking, and sustainability studies.

The students split into two groups tasked with selecting good sites to set up wildlife cameras targeting the Cascade red fox. This posting is from the Horseshoe Meadow team.

The location for our camera was ideal because the location had multiple key areas for lingering carnivores. The area was fairly close (about 1/4 mile) to the PCT, but it wasn't close enough for a miss intentioned person to stumble upon it; also it was adjacent to two meadows, one being Horseshoe Meadow. The camera sat next to a saddle in the ridge where carnivores would most likely cross to access the meadow or nearby water source. For exactly this reason, we pointed the camera at the saddle area, anticipating that the animals would come from this direction. The location over looks the meadow, so carnivores have a clear view of their surroundings. The area had a fair amount of trees and vegetation to provide cover, but not so dense that it would affect the picture results. There are also lots of prey for carnivores in the area, so an animal will most likely cross paths with the wildlife camera. Since the sun rises and sets in the east-west direction, we positioned our camera so that it faced north-south to avoid whitewash in our photos.

~ Jordan the Grizz, Haley Carrot-Top, Galen Super-Pyro, and Karli the Spunk-Bun

Meandering stream on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest

We set two cameras, facing different directions, at a site along a meandering stream near a large, mid-elevation meadow system on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to target grey wolves. There are no confirmed grey wolf detections on the GPNF yet though we regularly receive anecdotal sightings. We anticipate the grey wolf will re-inhabit the southern Washington Cascades one day if it has not returned to the area already. At the station, we had regular coyote visitors as well as a herd of elk, and our first owl detections. Over the past seven years, we have documented almost every wildlife species in the Cascades.

 

Quite a few elk visited the station.

A curious elk.

 A pair of coyotes

A pair of barred owls

A small black bear

The whole family was checking this station, including Luca in my belly, now 4 months old.

Some photos from Mt Hood National Forest

A gorgeous coyote.

Two ravens chatting on a branch.

Below is a neat flying squirrel sequence.

Two coyotes at Bennett Pass

Two coyotes together at station near Bennett Pass. It is a little early for the breeding season - coyotes in the Cascades breed in late winter - so this pair may be siblings.

Probably one of the pair, seen earlier.

It has been an interesting winter with the warmer mountain temperatures, torrential rain, and dearth of snow accompanied by bobcat, coyote, and mountain lion at most of our Oregon stations. We haven't seen such wild cat presence in Washington. This winter we have focused our station locations at various sites adjacent to but not on Mt Hood as we conducted extensive surveys this summer on the mountain itself. We have not detected mountain foxes at any of this season's sites yet, which is surprising as the survey stations encompass a lower elevation area than our sites on the mountain that yielded fox detections but still within the range of where we expect to find some foxes. I imagine that mountain precipitation patterns have a significant impact on fox behaviour as foxes rely on access to the small mammals under the snow a major prey source. Rain fall on snow followed by a freeze-up prevent access for foxes to the subnivean zone where the small mammals live. But its hard to know precisely how these changes manifest themselves. There is much to learn about these rare mountain foxes.