EPIC and Allies Sue USFWS to Protect Pacific Fisher
Fisher [Image from US Forest Service]
The Environmental Protection Information Center, Center for Biological Diversity and Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [yesterday] for denying endangered species protection to West Coast fishers. Fishers are relatives of mink, otters and wolverines and live in old-growth forests.
The Service had previously determined that fishers warranted protection across the West Coast, but in 2020 reversed course and only protected them in the southern Sierra Nevada.
Fur trapping took a toll on fisher populations but was largely banned by the 1950s. Extensive logging of the majority of forests along the West Coast has kept the animals from recovering. Now climate change and rodenticides used by marijuana growers leave them even more imperiled.
“I’m deeply concerned about the survival of the mysterious fisher and the old-growth forests it calls home,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. “These tenacious animals can eat porcupines, but they can’t survive the damage we’re doing to their forests. Fishers needed Endangered Species Act protection 20 years ago, and they need it even more today.”
The Center and its allies first petitioned the Service to grant West Coast fishers endangered species protection in 2000, leading to a 2004 determination by the agency that the fisher should be listed as threatened throughout its West Coast range. Rather than provide this protection the Service delayed, arguing there was a lack of resources. The agency reaffirmed the fisher’s imperilment in annual reviews through 2016, when it abruptly reversed course and denied protection. After the groups successfully challenged that decision, it granted protections to fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada but nowhere else.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service has a legal obligation to list species at threat of extinction but politics too often intervenes,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director at the
Environmental Protection Information Center. “For twenty years, the Service has employed every trick to avoid listing the fisher. Today we are in court because enough is enough.”Fishers once roamed forests from British Columbia to Southern California but now are limited to two native populations in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, plus another in Northern California and southwestern Oregon. There are also small, reintroduced populations in the central Sierra Nevada, in the southern Oregon Cascades, and in the Olympic Peninsula, Mt. Rainier and the North Cascades in Washington state. The Northern California-southwestern Oregon population is the largest remaining one, but is severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation caused by logging and high- severity fire.
“Fishers have it rough,” said George Sexton, KS Wild’s conservation director. “From rodenticide poisoning, to habitat loss from logging and fires, these tenacious critters face significant threats to their continued existence.”
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and the Center for Biological Diversity joined EPIC on the lawsuit.
The Environmental Protection Information Center advocates for the protection and restoration of Northwest California’s ecosystems, using an integrated, science- based approach, combining public education, citizen advocacy, and strategic litigation.
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I’m lucky enough to have had an encounter with one.
All life is precious.
Even life thought so common as to be safe. The list of creatures coming through where I live were fisher cats, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, wood rats, fire belly and giant pacific salamanders, alligator lizards, deer, banded pigeons, ravens, buzzards,hermit thrushes, phoebes, pilated wood peckers, hummingbirds, juncos, robins, winter wrens, Oregon thrushes, bears, mountin lions, gray foxes, banana slugs, garden slugs, Spanish slugs, barn swallows, flickers, porcupines, garter snakes- others too I can name right off. An occasional bald eagle and some hawks. Many types of bumblebees and butterfies.
Twenty years later and many 2 acre exemption clear cuts all around, there are cats, rats and crows. Raccons too. One alligator lizard seen this year, a few robins came through and I heard but did not see one Oregon thrush this year. I thought the foxes would endure long after everything else left but none seen or heard this year. The slugs persist but I think the banana slugs are crossing with another because they are getting less and less yellow each year. One loss followed another.
Some disappeared immediately like the pileated woodpechers. Others seem to come for a bit but not stay. The crow invasion and cats eliminated most of the birds. The rats spiked and people started putting out poison. The deer disappeared and probably the mountain lions with them. It was not logging that did it. People like to trot out that as the reason but logging happens then goes away for decades and the animals came back. There were large areas of timber company land here for a hundred years. It was the rodenticides and cats each new household brought in. And the increased sun from the opened canopy, scorching the salal, salmon berry, huckleberry, thimble berry, leaving little for the animals to find. One thing connected to the next and they fell like dominoes. No safety net to survive drought. No safe places left.
Yes, I agree, all life is precious.
Seen on my game cam a few times, more obstruction from the environazis won’t do them any good.
Intact forest won’t do them any good?
fires cause movement to new areas and competition for food
Fishers can eat porcupines? There were many porcupines up until about the early 70’s, when they seemed to disappear. Has anyone seen one lately ?
No, not since then, they damaged pine and apple trees, we used to kill them with rocks so the deer wouldn’t spook.
Yes, saw one up off Mattole road above Ferndale in the forest about 5 years ago. . My friends dog found it in the ferns. He came back with a face full of quills, including in his tongue. He looked like a pincushion. Had to go to the vet to get them all removed. The dog won’t be doing that again.
I saw a huge one up there also. just before I got to the top.
I used to see porcupines regularly in the 80’s when I lived in Fieldbrook but haven’t seen one in close to 35 years, despite an extensive amount of time spent in the woods of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. I have seen fishers on our game camera every year or so out in Dows Prairie – cool animal. I also saw one about 5 years ago running across a USFS road between Big Bar and Hayfork.
I also saw one about 5 years ago running across a USFS road between Big Bar and Hayfork.
All the old growth hidden in there burned last year from Monument fire.
Fisher, cats, bear, grouse, and even 1 Wolverine were all back there.
Interesting that you mention wolverine.
That is also a possibility of what I trapped after my chickens were massacred…
Wolverines are 20#-55#
The largest recorded fisher was 20#
Fishers are listed as weighing 8.3 #
My cat weighs about 8.3#
What I trapped was the size of full grown raccoon.
Maybe it was a wolverine, instead.
And maybe it wasn’t what massacred the chickens… It wasn’t caught in the act…
https://images.app.goo.gl/6DUczR9PGksktJ9v6
LOL right! You caught A Wolverine.
Save it for campfire story time.
The wolverine, the mascot of Sierra College, is also the rarest mustelid species in California. Based on the combined efforts by multiple researchers surveying for predators in the State’s montane regions, California is currently home to a single wild wolverine.
Scant sightings in Trinity and Tehama over the last 40 years.
Possibly. But “Buddy” the last known documented Wolverine in California was last seen in 2018.
He had hiked in from Idaho.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/first-wolverine-in-94-years-sierra-nevada-13578269.php
Oh of course don’t forget the Wolverine Guest trapped. ???
These observations are mostly considered bogus. Wolverines require Alpine conditions, aka year round snow pack, which only really occurs in the Alps. There is a great article about historic anecdotal observations and how they can complicate range assumptions for certain species. One example they go over at length is the “coastal wolverine”.
I personally saw one wolverine 11 years ago in Trinity Co.
I’ve stated that a couple of times on RHBB over the years.
Also, a local (Trinity) historical book mentions sightings towards Denny/New River & elsewhere.
Are you sure they “need” snowpack?
Though the elevation I saw him was 4-5 k, it definitely wasn’t year round snowpack.
Look, for instance no year round snowpack here:
https://youtu.be/Qhz1dUqfvGY
You are correct, I misread the literature. Aubrey et al (2007) found that wolverine presence is highly correlated with areas where spring snow persists until denning season is over. “Although wolverine records also occurred near alpine vegetation and climatic conditions in many areas, these habitat conditions failed to explain occurrence records in many portions of the northern Rocky Mountains. Thus, we suspect that observed relations with alpine habitat conditions in many areas reflect correlations between those habitat conditions and spring snow cover… Snow is generally regarded as an important component of the wolverine’s seasonal habitat requirements (Banci 1987, Hatler 1989). Virtually all reported wolverine reproductive dens (sites where kits are born and raised prior to weaning) are relatively long, complex snow tunnels that may or may not be associated with large structures, such as fallen trees or boulders (Pulliainen 1968, Magoun and Copeland 1998).”
10 years ago snowpack would easily last until late spring early summer up here.
30 years ago was another normal in that regard.
I imagine climate change will make the very few straggler wolverines in CA even less than now, which is technically classified as “extinct”.
Magoun and Copeland (1998) concluded wolverines need snow at a minimum uniform depth of 1 meter lasting until the end of May. These conditions do or did exist in Trinity County. These conditions do not occur in Humboldt, and even historically were pretty rare. There has yet to ever be a confirmed historical or current observation of wolverine in the coastal range. While wolverines can travels extreme distances, the lack of these habitat conditions prevent the possibility of any population persisting in the region.
Agreed.
Nice chat.
??
a female named Angie
You almost certainly did not trap a wolverine by your descriptions.
https://youtu.be/oUky21jdYs4
https://youtu.be/3SOjmJG73UI
https://youtu.be/93ZRxVbqvl8
*
Here is the Wolverine Range in Humboldt County…
This is what I trapped.
A wolverine.
Until I trapped this, I’d never seen a wolverine or a fisher, so I assumed it was a fisher…
But this is what I trapped.
Riiiiight…
And now tell us about the time you saw a Unicorn..
This is more the coloration of the animal that I caught…
And although I found this image under “pacific fisher”, and the above image under, “wolverine”, they both appear to be the very same image, or very, very, close…
Here is the link to this image, marked “wolverine”searched under “wolverine range”…
https://images.app.goo.gl/DjRPPGbqDJnhGRt2A
And here is the link, to the very same image, this time marked “fisher”, searched under “pacific fisher live trap”, under “images”…
%3Fh%3D6db2bef1%26itok%3Dj5eGXdLf&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdefenders.org%2Fwildlife%2Ffisher&tbnid=8Mj4CQftDsQA6M&vet=1&docid=zoTqCUoqutDVdM&w=800&h=800&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim
So which is it, is it a fisher, or is it a wolverine?
Because this is what I live trapped…
And this is a pacific fisher.
What I caught was two to three times this size, and completely filled that same trap.
Here is the link…
https://images.app.goo.gl/TTgnDNbZDCZqT1PF9
This range map is incorrect, where did it come from?
Where are you getting your information to dispute it?
You say it is incorrect.
Talk is cheap.
Please provide evidence, instead of assertions.
Here is the source…
http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/maps/CA_maphtml/m159.html
Jesus man..The only person who thinks you caught a Wolverine is you…
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/58/6/549/236039
Aubry and colleagues (2007) conducted a detailed analysis of historical patterns of wolverine distribution throughout the contiguous United States. Considering historical records and the current distribution and extent of suitable habitat conditions for wolverines, they concluded that wolverines most likely never occupied montane areas that lacked extensive alpine habitat conditions, such as the North Coast region of California.
Forgive him. He lives in an alternate reality.
Look at the two identical images that I have posted above…
The image, whatever it is, “wolverine” or “fisher”is what I live trapped…
It is identified BOTH AS, a “fisher”, and as a “wolverine”, separately, under two different searches…
I have provided the respective links.
So, Mr. AnEcologist, which is it, a “fisher”, or a “wolverine”???
It’s identified as both!
Don’t blame me if it’s Identified by someone else incorrectly, and I use those references, and it leads to a misunderstanding.
What is it?
I still don’t know for sure…
It’s size, at 20#-25# would suggest a wolverine, as much or more than a normally 8# fisher…
The pictures you posted are of a wolverine. And yes, the internet can be stupid and wrong. Just as well as scientist, can be stupid and/or wrong. But just because you describe a wolverine, does not mean that I believe that you caught a wolverine. I have heard from 4-5 people in Humboldt who have allegedly spotted wolverines. One of them even being an experienced wildlife biologist, I still think he is wrong. I do believe the McKelvey article as it draws its conclusion from multiple types of literature and data. I think their argument based on habitat is very convincing. Take it or leave it.
http://www.sibr.com/mammals/M159.html
You wolverine was probably a badger.
Link to pacific coast badger:
&action=click
Got them at my place…
Fishers, that is…
(Haven’t seen a porcupine “in a coon’s age”, Ernie…)
Maybe 5-6 years ago, a fisher wiped out all my chickens, killing half a dozen full grown birds, leaving only one, traumatized, shaking and in complete shock, (to tell the tale).
It killed and stacked 5 old barren Rhode Island hens, like cord wood,” (seriously) inside an enclosure that nothing had ever before managed to enter. (Mercy killing).
It came in one night, bit and broke all their necks, (it must have quietly picked them off, one by one, off of the roost as they slept, because there was no “ruckus”).
It removed them from the henhouse, and stacked them neatly and orderly, wings to their sides, in the “run” all “headed” north.
They were otherwise undamaged.
Except for the rooster, that is, that he drug to a perimeter fence, and left.
It was missing it’s skin around the neck and craw area only, no meat was disturbed. (It had been “caped”).
I was stumped as to what kind of culprit had this unusual and unique, chicken killing M.O.
I’d never seen anything even remotely similar.
The rooster he took with him , but it was caught in a secondary, (actually third) outer fence, where he temporarily left it…
I used that rooster to bait the live trap, figuring the unknown culprit would return…
Sure enough, early the next morning, an animal that I had never seen before, (the face in the above photo), was eyeing me intently from inside the trap…
Calling out to my wife for a quick look, we figured out it must be a fisher, as I immediately released it unharmed…
A once in a lifetime experience…
I wish I would have taken pictures, and even weighed it, as it was a very large fisher. I’d say almost 3 feet, nose to tip of tail, 20-25 pounds.
I’m pretty sure they say they are not that large, but this one was.
Him and that rooster filled the raccoon sized live trap, giving him barely enough room to turn around to leave.
Large claws, and a face like a badger, but it was not aggressive in any way.
What a cool animal…
Great campfire story.
I have heard several different versions…??
Though this is the first one I have heard about catching a 25lb Pacific Fisher…
Largest documented fisher is 20 lbs so it’s possible.
Only one I’ve seen was no more than 7 or 8 lbs
Yes, anything is possible in Guest’s imagination….
And he changed it to Wolverine..
Next it will be “The Wolverine” from X-men..
You are rite i have lived here for 75 years, and never heard of a fisher killing a porkypine,
Another U C Berzerkly story. Nothing worse than an armchair general, with a million dollar
education, and a big grant from the government .
“Pacific fishers are proficient hunters and are one of the only known species that can hunt porcupines.”
Porcupines often hang out in pole-sized ponderosa pine in the Winter and eat the phloem to survive, similar to black bear stripping phloem from young redwood, There was more ponderosa pine at low elevations immediate to the north coast rivers inland from the redwood belt. Most of that habitat is gone, mostly from humanity but also from the 64 Flood.
Wish had more energy for the various topics in this thread.
2007 was my last sighting
Everything changes, let’s try to accept reality please. Maybe consult your therapist if you have a hard time with the word extinction. Crack me up .
As usual, Lone Ranger, big downvote.
I saw a porcupine, oddly enough, running across the bridge on 101 over the eel river just north of Rio Dell a few years back. But haven’t crossed one in the woods, ever.
I expect the down votes, the majority think this nation is headed in a good direction. All politicians suck , if you vote you don’t agree with me and I understand, I talk to hundreds of different people every week , this nation is in trouble.
I blame Pelos!
They are not going extinct and are not endangered as claimed by epic. The fact is, they are elusive and are hardly ever seen except by people who are in the woods all the time. Even then, you may only see one or two in a lifetime. This should be a huge indicator to epic that their population numbers are doing fine, they just cannot find them because they are not easily found and are sneaky as all get out. Just like wolverines and wolves in the PNW. Saw a wolf on Mt Adams in Washington at 9,000 feet in a boulder field, its silhouette backlit by the rising sun. It was a magical experience. This was in 1989 when they were not supposed to be there although all the biologists in the Forest Service knew they were. He was looking down on us as we were climbing up. Then he dissappeared like a ghost, just like the fishers do.
Seems that EPIC and their buddy’s ( Bay Riders, Friends Eel River and a bunch more) are nothing but a bunch of ambulance chasers. Every time an environmental issue comes up they immediately slap a lawsuit on it then see what sticks. They could care less about the environment, only what suckers they can get to fund the paycheck. The top dogs at the office are lawyers with a bunch of naïve hippe’s doing the ground work for peanuts.
glad some one caught that. EPIC used to do good but, today they aren’t worth the paper they print on.
I saw a fisher up on the Mendocino Pass Rd by Black Butte in the snow.
Once I was trying to hike between Stone lagoon and Big lagoon or one of those, and ended up climbing a bluff. I popped my head up over the next shelf, and was face to face with a porcupine. It was kinda a greenish shade with algae on its quills living so close to the ocean. I turned around!
The tracks they make in the snow are the most identifiable.
They look quite awkward compared to a normal animal gait.
Fishers are very cool animals. They are definitely mysterious and stealthy. To say that they live in old growth forests is a little off base though. They reside in second and even third growth forests as well.
As usual epic is not really interested in this animal, but instead use it as a pawn to hopefully prevent timber harvesting.
I saw a fisher run across the road and jump into the underbrush near Dry Lagoon about 4 years ago. Broad daylight although it was overcast and very few people that time of year. A friend in Fort Bragg has watched one repeatedly coming right into the town of Fort Bragg at night and catching domestic cats. It lives in a nearby park. Unmistakably a fisher.
I don’t think anyone has any idea what the population here is or if it has increased or decreased. They’re not very easy to find.
.
Maybe a population and behavioral study on porcupines as well and see why their population is declining.. Might be money better spent.. We all end up paying for these lawsuits.
Definitely one of our coolest critters.
We need to make sure they live here forever
well do your part
” Now climate change and rodenticides used by marijuana growers leave them even more imperiled.”
mean time EPIC member puff away on the ganja.