American marten (Martes americana) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 15

Biographical Summary of Report Writer

Brian Slough obtained an M.Sc. from Simon Fraser University. His thesis on land capability classification for beaver, Castor canadensis, led him to a 15-year career as furbearer management biologist with the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Branch. The marten is an important economic furbearer for Yukon trappers, and as such, considerable effort was spent monitoring and studying marten.

Marten harvests were carefully monitored with a state-of-the-art fur harvest monitoring system. Marten populations were monitored using winter track-count and trapper questionnaire indices. The Yukon Trapper Questionnaire is a vehicle for obtaining local knowledge from First Nation and non-First Nation trappers on furbearer population levels and trends. Mr. Slough led a marten translocation project, to augment isolated populations and fill vacant habitats in the southwest Yukon.

The information collected on marten was applied to marten management guidelines, land use guidelines for marten and marten trapline management recommendations which are presented in a brochure for trappers and are presented at annual Yukon trapper education workshops.

He has published work on furbearer species including beaver, arctic fox, Alopex lagopus, American marten, Martes americana, and Canada lynx, Lynx canadensis, and has also written about trapline management and furbearer management in northern and western Canada. Since leaving the Yukon government in 1996, Mr. Slough has conducted environmental assessments, protected areas research, and research on rare mammals and amphibians. He prepared the 2003 update COSEWIC status report on wolverine, Gulo gulo.

Page details

Date modified: