Tom Keller currently serves as the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Furbearer Biologist overseeing 16 species within the Commonwealth.  He has held a variety of positions within the agency including as a game bird biologist and a region biologist.  He has also worked for federal wildlife agencies and holds a degree in Wildlife & Fisheries Science from Penn State and a Masters in Conservation Biology from Green Mountain College.  He resides in Cumberland County with his wife and daughter working the family farm when not working for wildlife.

Pennsylvania’s natural resources has a long story of loss, redemption, and restoration.  Species that had disappeared through deforestation, unregulated harvest, or damaging agricultural practices have been brought back through the passion and care of state conservationists.  One native species however, gone for over 120 years, has remained absent, much forgotten until now.  The American marten once common throughout the forests of the Commonwealth is now being considered for reintroduction.  What factors need to be considered though, prior to moving forward with such a decision.  This presentation looks at the questions of why, how, and what this might mean for Pennsylvania’s forests now and into the future.