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The fortunes of fishers: on the wane in the West, the weasel's numbers are waxing in the East
Animals, Wntr-Spring, 2003 by Deborah Knight
When the sedated fisher's eyes opened, she was returned to the box. Later, when she had regained full control of her body, the box was opened. She shot out, scampered along the top of a 150-foot-long fallen tree as if on a highway through the woods, then bounded into the underbrush. Gone. This was the kind of place fishers like: a closed canopy, a supply of dead standing trees to make dens in, and plenty of trees of different heights and deadwood on the ground, where a hungry fisher might find prey. This forest was missing two items, though, that fishers commonly eat: snowshoe hares, which do not occur this far south, and porcupines, which once lived here but were killed off by humans. This fisher would have to make do with squirrels, voles, carrion deer, lizards, birds, insects, and fungi.
Fishers occur only in North America and once ranged from coast to coast throughout much of Canada and as far south as North Carolina and Missouri. By the early part of the 20th century, they were almost extinct in the United States. Unregulated trapping decimated their numbers, as the animals are relatively easy to trap, and they reproduce slowly. The females in particular were sought after for their fine, soft fur. In addition, logging and agriculture destroyed their habitat.
The decline of agriculture in the East has aided the fisher's regional comeback. Much of the land once cleared for farms has returned to forest, and the forests quickly produced a dense second growth. In these areas, fishers seem to manage with smaller trees for their dens and rest sites. In the West, the animals depend more on large, old trees and snags. This, combined with the animals' reluctance to cross open land, has led some scientists to conclude that recent clear-cutting of forests in the Pacific Northwest and forest fragmentation caused by extensive long-term logging in the Sierras may be preventing fishers from returning to their former range.
In 2000, environmental groups for the third time petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the fisher as an endangered species in Washington, Oregon, and California. The agency, however, has not acted. Reginald Barrett, a professor of wildlife ecology and management at the University of California, Berkeley, offers a reason: if the fisher were listed, it would stop both the National Forest Service and private timber owners from cutting forests they otherwise would cut. "Biologically, listing needs to be done," Barrett remarks. "Politically, it's not going to happen."
Fishers possess a talent unique in the world of predators: they regularly attack and kill porcupines. Their physical design suits them to the task. Since they are agile, quick, and low to the ground, they repeatedly dart in, bite the porcupine's face where there are no quills, and then retreat before the porcupine can swing its tail around. The porcupine may try to hide its face in the nook or a tree or climb, but the fisher can simply attack from above. Once the porcupine has been sufficiently wounded, the fisher flips it over and rips open the stomach, which is also free of quills. Afterwards, all that remains is an inverted skin. "Porcupines," says Barrett, "are pretty nice fatty packages."
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