Marmot Recovery Foundation

10/14/2026

After Lilibet was predated this summer, it was up to Dad to care for their 3 pups. “Dad” is a wild-born marmot who arrived at Lilibet’s colony shortly after her release in 2024. Now he will be responsible for guiding his 3 pups through their first hibernation on his own.

Predation is an ever present risk for marmots, but the resilience of Vancouver Island marmots like this “Dad” and his three pups give hope for the recovery of this critically endangered species, despite the challenges they face.

10/12/2026

Thank you.

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, and we would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who makes the recovery of this incredible animal that was on the brink of extinction possible.

First of all that means you. Your gifts and donations provide the majority of our funding, and make our on-the-ground recovery work possible.

We do not work alone. MosaicForests, Mount Washington Alpine Resort, and the Province of B.C.’s Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship provide funding, resources, and technical support that make our work possible.

The The Toronto Zoo and the Wilder Institute have long been partners in conservation breeding and reintroduction of the Vancouver Island marmot. Their partnership and support are so greatly appreciated, and make this recovery effort more successful.

And funding from the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program that helps with work around Buttle Lake, the Patricia and Gordon Gray Animal Welfare Foundation, which supports habitat restoration, and an Environment & Climate Change Canada grant make possible for us to do more to recover the marmot.

We are so grateful to be partnering with the K’omoks, Cowichan, Snuneymuxw, Hupacasath, Wei Wai Cum, Wei Wai Kai, and ‘Namgis First Nations to recover this species and help document it’s past. There are still too many Vancouver Island Nations who stewarded the marmot for millennia and had deep traditional ties to the species, but from whose traditional lands the species is still absent today.

Together, we are saving a species. One at animal at time. And leaving a living legacy for our planet.

10/09/2026

Home maintenance just never ends, even for marmots. Especially for marmots!

Vancouver Island marmots will use the same burrows for generations. They maintain their burrows by cleaning out old nest materials (the grasses and straw they use for bedding) and doing repairs like removing rocks and keeping the entrance open.

Their burrows are surprisingly large and complex. The are 2 to 4 or more meters deep, and have multiple chambers; a “bedroom” for hibernating, a bathroom, and sometimes a separate maternity room. It is incredible that they can create these homes in the packed, rocky soils of the sub-alpine!

We have tried various approaches to helping Vancouver Island marmots rebuild burrows when reintroducing them to mountains from which they disappeared. Unfortunately, we are simply no substitute for a marmot engineer. The burrows where marmots do best are always burrows they have created themselves.

10/02/2026

A huge thank you the 14 volunteers to who came out to restore Vancouver Island marmot habitat! We were joined by students from both the VIU Department of Resource Management and Protection RMOT and programs to help marmots!

The goal of this work is to remove climate change induced tree ingress. Young trees grow over important habitat features like hibernacula and the meadow wildflowers and grasses marmot rely on for food. They also provide stalking cover for predators, making it harder for marmots to survive.

In the past, heavy snows would scrape the mountainside, maintaining marmot habitat on Vancouver Island. Recently though warmer winters with less snow has resulted in the need to restore marmot meadows by hand.

This meadow is home to Talamore, Dorothy and their pups (and maybe Esmeralda? But that’s story for another time!).
Photos Heather Heim.

09/28/2026

ESMERALDA WANTS HER MARMOT MAN BACK

After a hot and heavy start to last season with Talamore that resulted in a litter of pups, Esmeralda abandoned her partner and young family in pursuit of the enigmatic Hobbs, whose on-again-off-again-on-again relationship with strong-willed Bluebell was on again.

With Esmeralda gone, Dorothy moved into the family burrow with Talamore, and they had another litter of pups this spring.

Well, it seems like Hobbs learned his lesson the last time he came crawling back to Bluebell, because there was no love shared with Esmeralda, and after a year it seems like she has decided to move back home to Talamore. But will Dorothy have that?

SHE WILL NOT! Yesterday our team of marmot ruck rakers (we’ll be updating the Wildlife Technician job titles shortly) found Dorothy and Esmeralda in the old hibernacula, and from the sounds inside, there were some pointed words (well, grunts and growls) to be had. Talamore was nearby by and out-of-the-way, possibly content to have his fate decided the women?

Winter is coming. Who will end up in the burrow?!?

09/25/2026

First marmots in hibernation confirmed!

Already the first Vancouver Island marmots are down for the winter. Our field team found 2 plugged burrows at Haley Lake Ecological Reserve this week and were able to detect 5 hibernating marmots in one and 2 in the other.

The marmots at Haley Lake seems to follow the early to bed early to rise strategy. This is the same colony that we detected our first emergence this spring.

From earlier in the summer at Haley Lake, when the wildflowers were still blooming...

09/23/2026

“Look Mom, I’m helping!”

Another sign that fall is here; the marmots are packing their burrows with dried grasses in anticipation of hibernation.
In this case, a pair of Mayze’s pups are helping out around the burrow. While one pup has gathered a good mouthful of grass, the other maybe not so much! While I watched, the second pup was busy eating and exploring, and perhaps they rushed a little to finish their chores.

There is probably another month before these pups and their parents enter hibernation, but in the alpine cold weather can start abruptly and it is best to be prepared. Once underground, they will hibernate for 7 months, living entirely on body fat.

Photos Adam Taylor

09/20/2026

The Monster Marmot is is here! Mount Washington, Vancouver Island

09/20/2026

09/11/2026

For past two weeks, biologist and photographer Jared Hobbs joined our team as we surveyed some of the backcountry colonies, capturing the marmots, and our team at work.

During these trips, Veterinarian Malcolm McAdie tags wild marmots so we can identify them again in the future, an important part of how we keep track of the wild population.

After tagging, Shayn, Tyler and Malcolm release the marmots back to the wild.
At the same time, Lea is following the movements and positions of tagged marmots, gathering data on that makes our recovery efforts possible.
Many thanks to Jared for allowing us to share these photos!