Fisher to Be Considered for Endangered Status

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it will conduct a study to determine whether the fisher, a cat-sized animal that once ranged through the forests of California and the Pacific Northwest, should be given endangered species protection.

A fast, agile tree climber with a taste for porcupines, the fisher was historically found in the Sierra Nevada, Northern California and the western reaches of Washington and Oregon. Logging, trapping and urbanization have reduced it to three known populations in northwestern California, the southern Sierra and Oregon.

After a preliminary review of scientific data, the agency concluded that “substantial information indicates that listing the fisher in Oregon, Washington and California may be warranted,” Steve Thompson, manager of California-Nevada operations said in a news release.

The agency will begin a yearlong study to decide whether to recommend the animal for endangered species protection, which, if granted, could limit logging in fisher habitat.

Like the California spotted owl, whose decline has led to logging curbs in the Sierra, the fisher favors old-growth forest. But its range is more limited than the owl’s and there are no good estimates of fisher numbers.

“No one has any way of estimating those figures right now,” said Richard Golightly, a Humboldt State wildlife professor who studies the animal.

Fishers like to rest and nest in the cavities of large, old trees. Commercial logging is thought to have been a major factor in the animal’s disappearance from much of its original range. But road building, trapping in the early 1900s, development of mid-elevation land in the Sierra and even the decline of the porcupine have likely played roles.

Golightly said he did not believe protections would halt logging. “To say fishers are completely incompatible with timber harvest is wrong. But to say you can go in and do large clear cuts is also wrong.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s finding was issued in response to a petition filed by 20 environmental groups requesting that the fisher be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The agency had not acted on the petition and a federal judge in April ordered it to issue a preliminary finding.

Even if the agency decides to recommend endangered species protection, it may not move ahead with listing on the grounds that it does not have the staffing. That has been the case with two other California species, the mountain yellow-legged frog and yosemite toad.