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Populations of fishers have declined in all Canadian provinces and states except the Yukon and in the extreme northeastern United States (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont). In the western United States and Canadian Provinces, the number of fishers has been greatly reduced and their populations fragmented.
The fisher is light brown to dark blackish-brown, with the face, neck, and shoulders sometimes being slightly gray. The chest and underside often has irregular white patches. The fisher has a long body with short legs and a long bushy tail. At 6.6 to 13.2 pounds, male fishers weigh about twice as much as females (3.3 to 5.5 pounds). Males range in length from 35 to 47 inches while females range from 29 to 37 inches in length. Fishers from the Pacific States may weigh less than fishers in the eastern United States.
Except during the breeding season, fishers are solitary animals. The breeding season for the fisher is generally from late February to the end of April. Female fishers raise 1 to 3 kits, which are weaned by 10 weeks old. When they are 1 year of age, kits have established their own home ranges and are no longer dependent upon adults.
Fishers have a diverse diet that includes birds, squirrels, mice, shrews, voles, reptiles, insects, plants, fruit, and dead animals. Small and mid-sized mammals are the most common prey items eaten by fishers in the Pacific States. Fishers search for prey in forested stands, avoiding openings. |
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A resident of coniferous and mixed coniferous forests, the fisher once occurred throughout much of Canada, the northern United States, and the western United States. Fishers are no longer believed to occupy the lower mainland of British Columbia and the area west of Okanogan extending down to Washington.
The West Coast Distinct Population Segment includes the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Fishers are known to occur in Oregon and California; fishers were re-introduced into the Olympic Peninsula of Washington in January and March of 2008.
Fishers use late-successional habitats with dense canopy closure, large diameter trees (conifers and hardwoods) and snags with cavities and other deformities, large diameter down wood, multiple canopy layers. Late-successional coniferous or mixed forests that contain key habitat and structural components provide the most suitable fisher habitat because they provide abundant potential den sites and preferred prey species. The physical structure of the forest and prey associated with forest structures are thought to be the critical features that explain fisher habitat use, rather than specific forest types. The West Coast population of the fisher inhabits forested areas from sea level along the California Oregon Coast to approximately 1,970 to 8,530 ft in the Sierra Nevada. |
