Pine marten recovery in the UK and Ireland requires not just population reintroduction but landscape-scale habitat management that creates connectivity between woodland areas.
Individual pine martens in fragmented landscapes face welfare costs from attempting to navigate unsuitable habitat between woodland patches. Road crossings expose martens to collision risk; agricultural areas lack cover from predators; and territories too small to support individuals lead to malnutrition and failure to breed. Landscape-level habitat management that creates connected woodland networks reduces these welfare costs for individual martens while supporting viable population recovery. Hedgerow planting and management, woodland corridor creation, and agri-environment scheme participation by landowners collectively create the habitat connectivity that transforms fragmented pine marten sightings into self-sustaining populations.