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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office External Affairs Program

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office
External Affairs Program

Service to Consider Listing Fisher

Service to Consider Listing Fisher

July 10, 2003

SERVICE TO CONSIDER LISTING FISHER

Facts about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

Questions and Answers about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

July 10, 2003

SERVICE TO CONSIDER LISTING FISHER

Facts about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

Questions and Answers about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

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Graphic Version

03-070

Contact for news media:
Jim Nickles, 916/414-6572

The fisher, a medium-sized forest predator in the weasel family that once ranged throughout the forests of Washington, Oregon and California, will be studied to determine whether it should be considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.

The Service has completed an initial, 90-day review of a petition submitted by 20 environmental groups seeking to list the fisher as endangered in its West Coast range within the three states. The Service now will conduct a comprehensive study – known as a 12-month status review – to determine whether or not to propose the fisher for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

"After reviewing the best available scientific information, the Service has found that substantial information indicates that listing the fisher in Oregon, Washington and California may be warranted," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California-Nevada operations office.

No final decision has been made, Thompson added.

"We are beginning a 12-month status review to determine if the petitioned action is warranted," he said. "To ensure that the review is comprehensive, we are soliciting information and data regarding this species."

If a listing is proposed, the public will have extensive opportunities to comment and submit information on the proposal.

Historically, fishers in the Pacific states occurred in forests throughout western Washington, western Oregon, northern California, and the Sierra Nevada. Recent studies have documented three fisher populations – one in the Siskiyou, Klamath, and Trinity ranges in northwestern California and southern Oregon, another in the southern Sierra Nevada, and a reintroduced population in the Cascades in southern Oregon. The fisher is considered to have been extirpated or reduced to scattered individuals in Washington.

On December 5, 2000, the Service received a petition to list and designate critical habitat for a distinct population segment of the fisher in portions of California, Oregon, and Washington. The petitioning organizations and individuals included the Center for Biological Diversity; the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign; Noah Greenwald; American Lands; Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation.

On April 4, 2003, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California ordered the Service to submit for publication a 90-day finding under the Endangered Species Act on the petition to list the fisher in its West Coast range by July 3, 2003. This finding meets that requirement.

Those who wish to submit new information, materials, comments, or questions concerning this species may do so by writing the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825-1846, phone (916) 414-6600, fax (916) 414-6713 or via e-mail at fisher@fws.gov.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

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The fisher is a medium-sized mammal classified in the Carnivora order, and Mustelidae family, which includes otters, mink, weasels, badgers, and wolverines. It is the largest member of the genus Martes, which includes three species – fishers, yellow-throated martens and true martens. The Martes genus is distinguished by several features, one of which is having an additional premolar in each jaw. The only other North American member of the genus Martes is the American marten.

Fishers are about the size of a common house cat with the body type of a stocky weasel. Their fur ranges in color from dark brown to black, with lighter colored fur around the face and shoulders.

Fast, agile and adept at climbing trees, fishers eat any prey they can catch and overpower, including squirrels, hares, mice and birds. They are the only predators that consistently prey upon porcupines, although the porcupine is very rare or extirpated in California.

Despite their name, they do not, in fact, catch or eat fish. Though no one knows for sure, they probably were named by early American settlers from Europe who noted the fisher's similarity to the European polecat which is called a fitch, fitchet, or fitchew.

Fishers occur in the coniferous and mixed forests of Canada and northern United States. Current distribution in the west has been reduced in some areas largely as a result of historical trapping and habitat alteration and fragmentation of forested environments. In the Pacific states, fishers were historically most common in low to mid-elevation forests up to 8,500 feet.

Q. Who submitted the petition to list the fisher?
A. The 20 petitioning organizations and individuals included the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, Noah Greenwald, American Lands, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation, Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, Forest Issues Group, Friends of the Kalmiopsis, Klamath Forest Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Plumas Forest Project, Predator Conservation Alliance, Siskiyou Project, Siskiyou Action Project, and Yosemite Area Audubon.

Q. What does the petition seek?
A. The petition asks the Service to list the fisher in portions of California, Washington and Oregon as an endangered species. It states that the fisher has a low reproductive rate, low dispersal abilities, and is dependent on closed-canopy, late-successional forests in its West Coast range. The petition describes the fisher's historical distribution and current range in California, Oregon, and Washington, stating that three populations remain: one in northern California/southwestern Oregon, one in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and a reintroduced population in the southern Oregon Cascades. The petitioners cite a significant diminution of the fisher's range on the West Coast and ongoing loss of habitat as evidence to support a positive listing decision.

Q. What are the threats facing the fisher?
A. The primary threat mentioned in the petition is the loss and fragmentation of fisher habitat, which the petitioners state is due to timber harvest, roads, urban development, recreation, and stand-replacing fire. The petitioners believe that past timber harvest in Washington, Oregon, and California has resulted in the loss of key components of fisher habitat over large portions of the landscape, and that the cumulative effects of continued timber harvest and fuels reduction projects on public and private lands would have dramatic effects on the fisher. Other factors cited include poaching and incidental capture and injury, predation, mortality by vehicle collision, limited population size, and isolation of populations.

Q. What is a 90-day finding on a petition to list?
A. Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act requires that the Fish and Wildlife Service make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species contains substantial information to indicate that the requested action may be warranted. That finding is to be made within 90 days, to the maximum extent practicable, after receipt of the petition and is to be published in the Federal Register. Findings are based on information contained in the petition, supporting information submitted with the petition, and other information available to the Service at the time.

Q. What is meant by substantial information?
A. When the Service evaluates a petition for substantiality, it considers the adequacy and reliability of the information supporting the action advocated by the petition. A "substantial" finding indicates the Service has determined that adequate and reliable information has been presented or is available that would lead a reasonable person to believe the petitioned action may be warranted.

Q. What kinds of information are considered reliable?
A. Among the most reliable and credible sources are papers published in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Information provided by individuals with demonstrated expertise in the relevant subject area is also generally considered reliable. Anecdotal information or information from sources without established records of subject matter experience and expertise must be strongly corroborated to be considered substantial.

Q. What happens now?
A. Once a positive 90-day finding is made, the Service proceeds with a status review of the species. The Service decides whether the petitioned action is warranted, not warranted or warranted but precluded by proposals for other, higher-priority listing actions. If a warranted finding is made, the Service must promptly publish a proposed rule to pursue the petitioned action.

If a warranted but precluded finding is made for a petition to list, the Service classifies the petitioned species as a candidate for listing. The Service must document that it is making progress in listing, reclassifying or delisting species, and that the Service's decisions follow its listing priority system. The Service annually reviews warranted but precluded species for possible listing action.

If a not-warranted finding is made for a petition to list, the species is not assigned to candidate status.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office
External Affairs Program

Service to Consider Listing Fisher

July 10, 2003

Site Search
Home
Graphic Version

03-070

Contact for news media:
Jim Nickles, 916/414-6572

SERVICE TO CONSIDER LISTING FISHER

The fisher, a medium-sized forest predator in the weasel family that once ranged throughout the forests of Washington, Oregon and California, will be studied to determine whether it should be considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.

The Service has completed an initial, 90-day review of a petition submitted by 20 environmental groups seeking to list the fisher as endangered in its West Coast range within the three states. The Service now will conduct a comprehensive study – known as a 12-month status review – to determine whether or not to propose the fisher for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

"After reviewing the best available scientific information, the Service has found that substantial information indicates that listing the fisher in Oregon, Washington and California may be warranted," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California-Nevada operations office.

No final decision has been made, Thompson added.

"We are beginning a 12-month status review to determine if the petitioned action is warranted," he said. "To ensure that the review is comprehensive, we are soliciting information and data regarding this species."

If a listing is proposed, the public will have extensive opportunities to comment and submit information on the proposal.

Historically, fishers in the Pacific states occurred in forests throughout western Washington, western Oregon, northern California, and the Sierra Nevada. Recent studies have documented three fisher populations – one in the Siskiyou, Klamath, and Trinity ranges in northwestern California and southern Oregon, another in the southern Sierra Nevada, and a reintroduced population in the Cascades in southern Oregon. The fisher is considered to have been extirpated or reduced to scattered individuals in Washington.

On December 5, 2000, the Service received a petition to list and designate critical habitat for a distinct population segment of the fisher in portions of California, Oregon, and Washington. The petitioning organizations and individuals included the Center for Biological Diversity; the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign; Noah Greenwald; American Lands; Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation.

On April 4, 2003, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California ordered the Service to submit for publication a 90-day finding under the Endangered Species Act on the petition to list the fisher in its West Coast range by July 3, 2003. This finding meets that requirement.

Those who wish to submit new information, materials, comments, or questions concerning this species may do so by writing the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825-1846, phone (916) 414-6600, fax (916) 414-6713 or via e-mail at fisher@fws.gov.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

Top of Page

Facts about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

The fisher is a medium-sized mammal classified in the Carnivora order, and Mustelidae family, which includes otters, mink, weasels, badgers, and wolverines. It is the largest member of the genus Martes, which includes three species – fishers, yellow-throated martens and true martens. The Martes genus is distinguished by several features, one of which is having an additional premolar in each jaw. The only other North American member of the genus Martes is the American marten.

Fishers are about the size of a common house cat with the body type of a stocky weasel. Their fur ranges in color from dark brown to black, with lighter colored fur around the face and shoulders.

Fast, agile and adept at climbing trees, fishers eat any prey they can catch and overpower, including squirrels, hares, mice and birds. They are the only predators that consistently prey upon porcupines, although the porcupine is very rare or extirpated in California.

Despite their name, they do not, in fact, catch or eat fish. Though no one knows for sure, they probably were named by early American settlers from Europe who noted the fisher's similarity to the European polecat which is called a fitch, fitchet, or fitchew.

Fishers occur in the coniferous and mixed forests of Canada and northern United States. Current distribution in the west has been reduced in some areas largely as a result of historical trapping and habitat alteration and fragmentation of forested environments. In the Pacific states, fishers were historically most common in low to mid-elevation forests up to 8,500 feet.

Questions and Answers about the 90-day finding on a petition to list the fisher

Q. Who submitted the petition to list the fisher?
A. The 20 petitioning organizations and individuals included the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, Noah Greenwald, American Lands, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation, Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, Forest Issues Group, Friends of the Kalmiopsis, Klamath Forest Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Plumas Forest Project, Predator Conservation Alliance, Siskiyou Project, Siskiyou Action Project, and Yosemite Area Audubon.

Q. What does the petition seek?
A. The petition asks the Service to list the fisher in portions of California, Washington and Oregon as an endangered species. It states that the fisher has a low reproductive rate, low dispersal abilities, and is dependent on closed-canopy, late-successional forests in its West Coast range. The petition describes the fisher's historical distribution and current range in California, Oregon, and Washington, stating that three populations remain: one in northern California/southwestern Oregon, one in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and a reintroduced population in the southern Oregon Cascades. The petitioners cite a significant diminution of the fisher's range on the West Coast and ongoing loss of habitat as evidence to support a positive listing decision.

Q. What are the threats facing the fisher?
A. The primary threat mentioned in the petition is the loss and fragmentation of fisher habitat, which the petitioners state is due to timber harvest, roads, urban development, recreation, and stand-replacing fire. The petitioners believe that past timber harvest in Washington, Oregon, and California has resulted in the loss of key components of fisher habitat over large portions of the landscape, and that the cumulative effects of continued timber harvest and fuels reduction projects on public and private lands would have dramatic effects on the fisher. Other factors cited include poaching and incidental capture and injury, predation, mortality by vehicle collision, limited population size, and isolation of populations.

Q. What is a 90-day finding on a petition to list?
A. Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act requires that the Fish and Wildlife Service make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species contains substantial information to indicate that the requested action may be warranted. That finding is to be made within 90 days, to the maximum extent practicable, after receipt of the petition and is to be published in the Federal Register. Findings are based on information contained in the petition, supporting information submitted with the petition, and other information available to the Service at the time.

Q. What is meant by substantial information?
A. When the Service evaluates a petition for substantiality, it considers the adequacy and reliability of the information supporting the action advocated by the petition. A "substantial" finding indicates the Service has determined that adequate and reliable information has been presented or is available that would lead a reasonable person to believe the petitioned action may be warranted.

Q. What kinds of information are considered reliable?
A. Among the most reliable and credible sources are papers published in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Information provided by individuals with demonstrated expertise in the relevant subject area is also generally considered reliable. Anecdotal information or information from sources without established records of subject matter experience and expertise must be strongly corroborated to be considered substantial.

Q. What happens now?
A. Once a positive 90-day finding is made, the Service proceeds with a status review of the species. The Service decides whether the petitioned action is warranted, not warranted or warranted but precluded by proposals for other, higher-priority listing actions. If a warranted finding is made, the Service must promptly publish a proposed rule to pursue the petitioned action.

If a warranted but precluded finding is made for a petition to list, the Service classifies the petitioned species as a candidate for listing. The Service must document that it is making progress in listing, reclassifying or delisting species, and that the Service's decisions follow its listing priority system. The Service annually reviews warranted but precluded species for possible listing action.

If a not-warranted finding is made for a petition to list, the species is not assigned to candidate status.

More questions?

Write, call, or email:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, Endangered Species Division
2800 Cottage Way, Room W-2605
Sacramento, CA 95825
(916) 414-6600
fisher@fws.gov

More Information on: Fisher

Federal Register Notice (TEXT)
Federal Register Notice (PDF)

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Phone (916) 414-6565 ~ FAX (916) 414-6713 ~ email: fw1sacweb@fws.gov

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