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State wildlife managers will spend the next year working up new proposed rules for protecting the rare Humboldt marten from trapping in Western Oregon while they study whether to pursue threatened or endangered status for the animals on the state level. On a 3-2 vote, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission bucked its own staff’s recommendation and accepted a petition from conservation groups to ban all marten trapping west of Interstate 5, ban “tree traps” in that same region, and ban all trapping within the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, a marten stronghold on the beaches near Florence. Martens are small carnivores that live in old-growth forests and the brushy dunes, hunting prey such as songbirds in trees. Accepting the petition orders the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to craft proposed rules turning the petition’s concepts into a draft statute that would then be considered by the commission following a public comment period. Commissioners Michael Finley of Medford, Greg Wolley of Portland and Bob Webber of Port Orford voted to accept the petition. Commissioners Bruce Buckmaster of Astoria and Holly Akenson of Enterprise voted to reject the petition. Commissioner Jim Bittle of Central Point was absent. The seat for Congressional District 5 on the seven-member commission is vacant. The trapping ban’s supporters, which includes the Ashland-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, argued that the Nov. 1 through Jan. 31 trapping season on martens is in direct conflict with the animals’ status as a threatened-species candidate on both state and federal Endangered Species Act rolls. The Humboldt marten, a subspecies of the pine marten, exists in Oregon in two small isolated clusters — one in the western portions of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and the other in the Oregon Dunes. Each one is estimated at fewer than 100 animals. A recent study suggests that trapping as few as two Humboldt martens a year could jeopardize their existence, according to the petition. ODFW staff recommended against the petition, saying trapping pressure is so light or nonexistent that it doesn’t seem warranted. ODFW records show no licensed trapper has caught a Humboldt marten since 2014, and the long-term trapping average is 0.45 Humboldt martens per year. The agency takes issue with the trapping ban in the dunes, saying it would, for instance, ban trapping there of bobcats, which are known to prey on martens. The commission will hear arguments in September on whether to list the animal under the state ESA. A similar request under the federal ESA is now under consideration by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Humboldt martens differ from pine martens found elsewhere in the south Cascades and in Northeast Oregon, which are not considered an at-risk species. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman .