The Pacific fisher, a member of the weasel family, is a medium-sized forest mammal that lives in mature and old growth forests. Its diet ranges from birds to small mammals to fruit and fungi, and it is one of the only animals clever enough to prey on porcupines.
Endangered in California
Due to habitat degradation and other threatening factors including a low reproductive rate, reduced genetic diversity, predators, disease, and more recently, negative interactions with road traffic and exposure to rodenticide, the Pacific fisher has disappeared from more than half its former range in California and is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, with official federal listing predicted for 2014.
Protecting the Species
To help save this key forest dweller, Yosemite Conservancy in partnership with the National Park Service,the California Department of Fish and Game, U.C. Berkeley and the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, funded a multi-year study designed to collect data to document the fisher’s distribution, abundance, and range in Yosemite in order to better understand the factors limiting the fisher’s comeback.
Highly advanced remote motion-sensing camera stations were placed in suitable habitat throughout the park to determine fisher presence. These sites included areas both north and south of the Merced River.
Unprecedented Findings
The first survey year documented more fisher detections in Yosemite National Park than any previous study, with fisher activity concentrated in the southern portion of the park. The second survey year brought the unprecedented finding of the first documented den tree of a female Pacific fisher with kits (young) in the park. Thanks to Conservancy funding, this study has shed light on the Pacific fisher’s population distribution within Yosemite and played a major role in regional fisher recovery efforts.
Photo courtesy of U.C. Berkeley.