Long-lost forest mammal is restored to Washington

On January 27, 2008, after five years of careful planning, eleven Pacific fishers were released into old forests in the Olympic National Park, including a location near the Elwha River. A crowd of forty onlookers, which included students from Stevens Elementary School in Port Angeles, was on hand to witness the historic event. And on March 2, 2008, seven more fishers were released.

Enjoy a fisher slideshow.

Read press coverage of fisher reintroduction.

A total of about a hundred fishers translocated from home forests in southern British Columbia will be released into the park over the next three years. Release of the fishers comes by way of generous support and encouragement of a grant provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to advance Washington's wildlife action plan.

Loss of old-growth forests, with their big trees and snags needed by fisher for resting and nesting places, and over trapping entirely eliminated the fisher, a close relative of minks and otters, nearly eighty years ago. An earlier feasibility study for the reclusive forest mammal pinpointed the old-growth forests of the Olympic Peninsula as habitat with the most abundant prey and denning habitat for reintroduction of fisher. Biologists expect fishers to thrive there.

Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest, said it this way, "With fishers back home in the Olympic Peninsula, the magnificent old-growth ecosystem found here is now more complete."

In 2002, Conservation Northwest partnered with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to reestablish a native population of fisher to the forests of western Washington. The release of fisher in the Olympics is doubly exciting because it could provide a template for restoring this small native mammal to the Cascade Mountains and the Kettle River Range.

Each released animal is fitted with a tiny radio transmitter for tracking fisher as they settle into their new Olympic habitat, information that's useful, too, as biologists fine tune future releases within the park.

Conservation Northwest commends the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympic National Park for their leadership on fisher reintroduction. We are honored to be a major player in bringing fisher home to Washington.