Olympic Marmot - Interaction With Humans

Interaction With Humans

The Olympic marmot is the second-rarest North American marmot, behind the Vancouver Island marmot which is critically endangered. Marmots were first sighted in the Olympic Peninsula in the 1880s. In the 1960s, David Barash conducted a three-year study of Olympic marmots after which he reported that there was an abundance of marmots in the mountains. In 1989, the total Olympic marmot population was calculated to be only about 2,000, but this low number was due to poor data collection. Other than this population census, little further research was done on the Olympic marmot until the late 1990s, when concerns arose about population status.

Rangers and frequent visitors to the Olympic National Park had noticed that some populations of Olympic marmots had disappeared from their usual habitats. In response to this, the University of Michigan began a population study in 2002, in which the marmot population continued to decline by about 10% a year until 2006. Predation by coyotes that had not been present in the area before the 20th century was found to be the main cause of death of females, inhibiting population re-growth. By 2006, numbers had dropped to 1,000 individuals; this figure increased from 2007 to 2010, when colonies stabilized and survival rates rose to around 4,000. In 2010, volunteers started to collect and store data about marmot populations in the park through a monitoring program. The Olympic marmot has been considered a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since first being included in 1996. Its range is small, but 90% of its total habitat is protected due to being in Olympic National Park. The park, which holds multiple other endemic species, has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. State law declares under Washington Administrative Code 232-12-011 that since the Olympic marmot is classified as protected wildlife, it shall not be hunted.

Olympic marmots are readily affected by climate change because of their sensitivity to changed habitats. When meadows in Olympic National Park dried out, marmots there died or moved. In the long term, meadows may be superseded by forests. Climate change will alter the timing, composition, and quality of the marmots' food. Olympic marmots can become more vulnerable to predators when daytime temperatures rise too high for foraging, causing them to forage in the cooler evenings when predators are more difficult to notice. In warm winters, there is heavier predation by coyotes. Marmots become more accessible to coyotes as lower banks of snow allow coyotes to move up higher on mountains where marmots dwell, into areas which they could not usually reach during an average cold winter. Climate change could also have positive effects; a warmer climate would result in a longer growing season in which marmots could grow quickly and mature earlier, and thus breed more frequently throughout the year.

In 2009, the Olympic marmot was designated a state symbol of Washington: the official "endemic mammal." Governor Chris Gregoire's signing of Senate Bill 5071 was the result of a two year effort by the fourth and fifth graders of Wedgwood Elementary School in Seattle. The students researched the marmot's habits and answered legislators' questions to overcome bipartisan opposition. The bill's sponsor, Senator Ken Jacobsen, summarized the successful campaign:

"First and foremost, these students developed a true interest in this underappreciated mammal. This interest inspired them. They truly were dedicated to ensuring the Olympic marmot was recognized and honored by the state of Washington."