Updates from the Team

We are now accepting applications for our summer field team! 

The Marmot Recovery Foundation is seeking summer wildlife technicians. We are looking for enthusiastic, hard-working individuals that have a passion for wildlife conservation, love to work outdoors, and want to contribute to the success of our exciting recovery program.    

Number of positions: 1-4 full-time, short-term positions.

Contract length: May 1 – August 31, 2019, with some possibility of extension through September.
Contract structure: Fixed-term employment contract, starting at $2,780/month.
Project base: Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. 

Main tasks and responsibilities include:

• Hiking for several hours a day on steep, rugged, mountainous terrain with a 30-40lb backpack.
• Precise and consistent collection of inventory, survival, and reproduction data based on radiotelemetry detections and visual observations.
• Accurate and timely data entry.
• Live-trapping and care of Vancouver Island marmots under the direction of the project veterinarian.
• Driving 4×4 trucks on active logging roads, and occasional use of ATVs and/or snowmobiles.
• Camping on trips of up to 10 days in length (sites often accessible only by helicopter).

This project is based in central Nanaimo. Meeting times can be as early as 4am and field days can be very long.  In the past, we have hired exceptional individuals that lived outside of Nanaimo; however, all candidates MUST expect to drive to Nanaimo for the start of each field day. No reimbursement for personal fuel or mileage will be offered. Due to the short length of the field season and the high likelihood that weather will change work plans and scheduled days off, candidates cannot be assured of conventional weekends and must be flexible to work at any time during the contract period.

Successful candidates will possess:

• A Class 5 Drivers License (or equivalent).
• First Aid – minimum OFA Level 1.
• A high level of physical fitness and stamina.
• Experience with multi-day backcountry camping trips.
• Experience driving 4×4 and all-terrain vehicles in steep, mountainous terrain.
• A detail-oriented mindset and the ability to remember and follow specific directions regarding data collection protocols and animal care.
• A commitment to adhere to safety protocols and contribute to safe operating practices.
• Strong communication skills, a positive attitude, and the ability to contribute to a fun and supportive team environment.
• Experience working around and caring for animals would be an asset.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information for three references to the Field Coordinator, Mike Lester, at: resumes@marmots.org.                

Applications must be received by 4pm Monday, February 11. Only those applicants chosen for interviews will be contacted. We anticipate scheduling interviews in the week of February 25. Some positions may be funded by Summer Jobs Canada. Additional eligibility requirements may apply. Short-listed candidates will be invited to a non-mandatory field experience day in late February. This event will facilitate candidate demonstration of backcountry fitness and aptitude for learning specialist techniques.

We use this picture a lot. It is a beautiful photo by Oli Gardner of a mom and pup pair bonding in typical Vancouver Island Marmot style by touching noses. But the photograph takes on more meaning when you understand the story of the marmots captured in it too.

The marmot mom on the right is Haida, the first captive-bred female to wean pups successfully in the wild. On the left is one of those pups.

Haida was born at the Mountain View Conservation Centre in 2002. Two years later, she was among the very first marmots released. At the time, we did not have much experience breeding marmots, and Haida was in the just second group of marmots ever to be released. In her case, her new wild home was Haley Lake Ecological Reserve, a park reserve created specifically to protect prime marmot habitat.

We have learned a lot since those first releases: the best age, time of year for the release, and how to minimize the marmot’s stress. Looking back, there are things we would do differently now. Despite these challenges and needing to learn to survive in the wild for the first time, Haida thrived in her new home.

She produced her first litter in 2006, and one of those pups is what you are looking at here. It is just possible the pictured pup is another remarkable marmot, Muffin. Muffin still lives at Haley Lake; now 12 years old herself. Currently she is hibernating with Alan, and we are hoping that the pair produce a litter of pups in the summer. If they do, it will add another chapter to Haida’s considerable legacy. 

In 2014, when Haida was at the advanced age of 12, veterinarian Malcolm McAdie recalls Haida would still get into mischief. “She would she would sit and wait while we baited the traps with peanut butter and then get caught repeatedly,” he says.

Haida passed away a few years ago, but her contribution to the recovery of her species lives on. 

Meet Rudy, December’s Marmot of the Month. Are we going stretch to make a holiday theme by suggesting “Rudy” is short for “Rudolph”? You bet we are!

Aside from his name, Rudy resembles Rudolph in a three important ways.

First, there are, mysteriously, no photos of Rudy. We had him in hand one time back in 2016, and we’ve seen glimpses and signs, but he has deftly evaded all our camera traps! That sounds familiar….

Second, his name breaks the rhyming scheme of all his kin. At Rudy’s home on Moriarty Mountain, all the marmots names rhyme with “Forest”. There’s Rudy’s suspected mate Chloris, not to mention Morris, Horris, Borris, and Dolores. (Why the rhyming name scheme? The Field Crew gave them these names to irritate Don, our retired Field Coordinator, who felt that marmot names shouldn’t sound too similar. You see what we’re dealing with?)

Third, Rudy is definitely showing the way for his species. He may not have a red-nose, but we strongly suspect that he and Chloris have been busy making pups at Moriarty, which is one of the most successful Vancouver Island marmot colonies. More than that, Moriarty is a particularly steep, rugged site, and Rudy excels at climbing in the cliffs, showing his pups and the other marmots how to stay safe from predators!

Right now, Rudy is hibernating. His burrow, more than 2 meters underground, is safe and dry, unaffected by yesterday’s storm. We look forward to seeing him again next spring though!

Happy holidays everyone!

This is not Rudy, but an untagged marmot mom and one of her pups earlier this year at Moriarty.

That cliff and the steep bowl below is Rudy’s home. Not an easy place to get into!

November’s  Marmot of the Month is Lucky Lucy, who truly has lived up to her name. Lucky was born in the wild at Gemini Mountain in 2016.  For the past 2 years, she seemed to be doing great, and all indications were that soon there would be another breeding age female wild marmot.

Then, this year, Lucky’s story seemed to take a dark turn. Crew couldn’t see Lucky on their visit to Gemini, but her telemetry signal was weak and reading “slow”. At the time, we interpreted the signal to mean that she had died, though we noted that the signal was unusual. After that, nothing. We couldn’t find her signal at all.

That all changed in late August though, when on a trip to another colony nearby, the crew aimed the telemetry antenna across the valley, just to see if another angle would pick up Lucky’s signal. Against all odds, not only was her signal strong, but it was clearly “fast” – indicating she was alive and well! Since then, she’s been detected alive and well a couple more times, right where we left her on the top of Gemini Mountain.

Why did Lucky’s signal throw us for a loop? We will never know for sure, but rock walls can play havoc with telemetry signals bouncing them in odd ways. It is possible that Lucky ventured down off Gemini for a while, or perhaps she had dug a burrow under a particularly large rock.

Regardless, we feel fortunate to have her back! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends! While we celebrated a little earlier here in Canada, it’s always worth taking the opportunity to express our thanks to the people who are making it possible to save the marmots. This species is here today thanks to you.

Our work to save the Vancouver Island Marmot has only been possible thanks to the gifts of donors and the support of partners. Our partners include the Calgary and Toronto Zoos, whose expertise, facilities, and research support have been critical. Landowners TimberWest, Island Timberlands, and Mount Washington Alpine Resort have provided funding, donated land, and created new parks to protect the marmot’s habitat. The Province of BC has provided operating support, office space, and field equipment like trucks to make our work possible.

And our donors’ gifts have provided the financial support to pay the bills, and hire the exceptional, dedicated crew we need to get these marmots back into their wild habitat.

Together, you are showing that Canadians and the World care about our most vulnerable species and that, with work and time, we can save them.

With all our heart, thank you.