Records concentrate in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, with more scattered reports from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the North Slope. Alaska carries the largest share of American marten records in the country, tied to the cold, structurally messy conifer forest this weasel relative depends on for cover.
Martens here hunt mostly by scent, working the forest floor for voles and squirrels one moment and climbing headfirst down a trunk after a red squirrel or bird the next, a trick made possible by semi-retractable claws and unusually flexible ankles. They den in hollow logs, rock crevices, or old woodpecker cavities lined with moss and leaves, and shift toward berries and carrion once snow makes small prey harder to find.
Activity holds up across the whole year rather than spiking in one season, shifting instead with elevation and habitat as martens move between the forest floor in summer and tunnels under the snowpack in winter.
