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Augmentations are used frequently to restore populations of conservation concern. Carnivores, in particular, are often targeted for augmentations, yet quantitative assessments of these efforts are rare. In Wisconsin, USA, American martens were reintroduced and subsequently augmented, yet remain state endangered. To evaluate this restoration effort, we sampled martens before and after augmentation, used genetic mark-recapture and parentage analyses to quantify stage-specific vital rates for each step of the augmentation, and assessed demographic viability with and without augmentation. Surprisingly, augmentation provided minimal genetic and demographic contributions, and persistence was instead driven by intrinsic population attributes such as recruitment. Our findings question augmentation as a primary restoration strategy for carnivores, and we urge conservation practitioners to focus on identifying and enhancing limiting population processes such as immigration and juvenile survival prior to using costly and controversial measures like augmentation.

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We translocated and released a total of 90 (55 F and 35 M) wild American martens (Martes americana) from Minnesota to northern Wisconsin, USA, during 2008–2010. Our objective was to evaluate the short‐term results of this translocation project by comparing marten dispersal, time to residency, and survival by release method, sex, and age categories. On average, translocated martens took 18 days (range = 1–64 days) and traveled 4.6 km (range = 0.4–45.7 km) from release sites before establishing residency. Although survival probabilities for adults and males were 0.84 and 0.79 and juveniles and females were 0.66 and 0.71, respectively, they were not statistically different. Translocated adult and juvenile survival was similar to resident adult and juvenile survival reported in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Predation (primarily by other carnivores) was the main cause (85%) of observed mortality for translocated animals, but it did not appear to be a major limiting factor for adults or juveniles. Contrary to some studies, we found no significant difference between release methods for any analyzed parameter, but we observed increased injuries to slow‐released individuals. We concluded there was no benefit resulting from slow‐release or an acclimation period for translocation of American martens and that long‐term monitoring of the population is needed to evaluate species recovery in Wisconsin. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

No abstract