This
site was established to help all those who wish to learn
more about the plight of the Newfoundland marten. In
particular, this site will assist students and marten
researchers. The marten is referred to in published
literature as american marten (martes americana). The
native Newfoundland marten is considered a subspecies,
martes americana atrata, of the marten found elsewhere
throughout North America. One reason for this is the
geographical isolation since the last ice age, 8 to
10 thousand years ago. Newfoundland is an island in
the Atlantic ocean, off Canada's East coast. The distance
to the mainland of Canada is too great for marten to cross.
Therefore, a unique marten gene pool now exists on the
Island portion of the province of Newfoundland and
Labrador, Canada. During the early 1900s marten were
reported to exist in most of the boreal forest of central
and western Newfoundland. Today, the official count by the
Wildlife Division, Department of Environment and
Conservation, is at 300 animals. The
marten was given the status of "Endangered" by the
Committee On the Status of Endangered Wildlife In Canada
(COSEWIC) in 1996. A Marten Recovery
Team, representing government departments, industry and
non government organizations has been established to
develop a recovery strategy. The National Recovery Plan for Newfoundland
Marten was written in 1995. This
document is now being revised/updated and will be
available in 2007.
