Fisher – Oregon Conservation Strategy

Overview

Species Common Name Fisher
Species Scientific Name Pekania pennanti
Federal Listing Status Species of Concern
State Listing Status Sensitive

Ecoregions

Coast Range

Oregon’s Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

Klamath Mountains

The Klamath Mountains ecoregion covers much of southwestern Oregon, including the Umpqua Mountains, Siskiyou Mountains, and interior valleys and foothills between these and the Cascade Range. The Rogue watershed has the largest population of any coastal watershed in Oregon (Jackson County, Josephine County, and a portion of Curry County). Several popular and scenic rivers run …

West Cascades

The West Cascades ecoregion extends from east of the Cascade Mountains summit to the foothills of the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue Valleys, and spans the entire length of the state of Oregon. It is largely dominated by conifer forests, moving into alpine parklands and dwarf shrubs at higher elevations.

Special needs

Fishers are found in forests and riparian corridors with moderate to dense canopy cover and diverse structural stages and plant communities. They use cavities in live or dead standing trees for den sites. Fishers prey on small mammals, including snowshoe hares and porcupines.

Limiting factors

Fishers have extensive home ranges, low reproductive rates, and specialized habitat requirements for den sites. Precise limiting factors remain unclear.

Data gaps

Determine whether populations are expanding and/or reestablishing in extirpated areas. Evaluate the effects of various habitat conditions on fisher persistence. Identify natural or anthropogenic factors that facilitate or impede movement of fishers. Explore feasibility of reintroductions, including ecological and genetic constraints. Develop standardized protocols for assessing resource availability and habitat suitability before reintroductions.

Conservation actions

Maintain complex forest structure with large trees within the fisher's range. Improve habitat patch size and connectivity to provide for dispersal, genetic interchange, and population expansion. Use results of feasibility studies to guide specific conservation actions and management decisions for potential reintroductions. Work with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service to review outcomes of conservation actions. Develop a fisher conservation strategy.