Fur trade marten furs could generate in international markets spurred a "fur fever" in which many Russians moved to Siberia as independent trappers. From 1585 to 1680, tens of thousands of sable and other valuable pelts were obtained in Siberia each year. The primary way for the Muscovite state to obtain furs was by exacting a fur tribute from the Siberian natives, called a "yasak". "Yasak" was usually a fixed number of sable pelts which every male tribe member who was at least fifteen years old had to supply to Russian officials. Officials enforced "yasak" through coercion and by taking hostages, usually
Humboldt marten Humboldt marten The Humboldt marten ("Martes americana humboldtensis or Martes caurina humboltensis") is an endangered, genetically distinct subspecies of the American marten known only from the old-growth coastal redwood forests of the U.S. states of California and Oregon. Less than 300 of them survive in both states combined, in three different populations of 100 each; one in northern California, one straddling the California-Oregon border, and one in Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The subspecies was in fact considered extinct until being rediscovered in the Six Rivers National Forest in 1996. They are most threatened by a lack of population expansion