Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

Fisher (Martes penncmti)Distribution.-The range of the fisher (a small mammalian carnivore) extendssouth from the forests of central and southeastern Canada to New Englandand the Great Lakes states in the east and from British Columbia to westernMontana and the Sierra Nevada mountains of California in the west (Arthur etal. 1989, Strickland et al. 1982). Prior to European settlement, the fisheroccupied all densely forested areas of Washington, with the most dense populationslocated on the Olympic Peninsula (K. Aubry, U.S. Forest Service,Olympia, Washington, pers. comm. 1991). Although rare, the fisher stilloccurs in the Cascades, Okanogan Highlands, and the Olympic Peninsula (K.Aubry, U.S. Forest Service, Olympia, Washington, pers. comm. 1991). At onetime, the fisher probably was present in all Oregon counties where coniferousforests occurred. Today, the species is known to inhabit forested portions ofthe Cascade, Klamath, Siskiyou, and Blue Mountains (Marshall 1991). Thereare few recent reports from the Coast Range, although a fisher sighting wasreported from the Hebo Ranger District, Lincoln County in 1991. The range ofthe fisher in California extends from the Oregon border in the northwest southto Lake and Sonoma Counties. To the east, the species has been found nearClear Lake in Lassen County, and as far south as Greenhorn Mountain, KernCounty. Fishers range from near sea level in the low coastal areas to above11,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada (California Department Fish and Game 1986).Status.- A petition was filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1990 tolist the fisher as a threatened species in California, Oregon, and Washington.The petition was denied, based on the inconclusive nature of the information itprovided. An interagency working group subsequently was formed to facilitatesharing on new information of fishers and the FWS included the fisher amongits candidate species in 1991. During the last decade, sightings of fishershave been recorded in Mt. Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades NationalParks in Washington, but no formal surveys were conducted. Ongoing investigationsin Olympic National Park indicate that the fisher may have beenextirpated from the Olympic Peninsula as a result of extensive habitat alteration(K. Aubry, U.S. Forest Service, Olympia, Washington, pers. comm. 1991).The fisher is a "candidate" species for listing as threatened or endangered inWashington.Trapping and incidental loss caused by nontarget strychnine poisoning (fromwolf and coyote baits) resulted in declines in Oregon fisher populations by the1930s (Irwin 1987). Trapping for fishers has been prohibited in Oregon since1937, but after more than 50 years, populations do not seem to have recovered(Marshall 1991). In 1961, 24 fishers were transplanted from British Columbiato Klamath and Union Counties. No post-release monitoring was conducted,and the status of any resulting fisher population is unknown (Marshall 1991).Incidental sightings in the Cascade, Siskiyou, and Coast Range Mountainscontinue to be reported, but no standardized surveys have been undertaken toassess population status at the state level (Marshall 1991). The fisher is listedas a sensitive species in Oregon and California. Schempf and White (1977)suggested that fishers were relatively common in the northern coastal mountainsof California, but were uncommon or rare in the Sierra Nevada.Natural history and habitat associations.-Fishers inhabit coniferous andmixed coniferous/deciduous forests. Dense, mature to old-growth forests arepreferred during summer for cover and den sites (Jones 1991, Marshall 1991,Washington Department Wildlife 199 lb). In Idaho, stands used by fishersduring the breeding season had more snags, logs, and large-diameter treesrelative to all available habitat. Stands of pole-sized or smaller trees wereavoided, as were open, drier habitats. Jones (1991) reported a preference for388