Fisher
Fishers have returned to Washington after decades of absence. We support their recovery through monitoring, habitat stewardship, and long-term conservation efforts.
Our Approach
Once extirpated from Washington, fishers are now reestablished across the Olympics and Cascades thanks to a successful, multi-year reintroduction effort led in large part by Conservation Northwest and our partners.
After disappearing in the 1930s due to trapping and habitat loss, fishers had no nearby populations capable of naturally recolonizing the state. Recovery depended on a coordinated reintroduction strategy, strong public support, and the ability to source animals from British Columbia and Alberta.
Beginning with a feasibility study we funded in 2002, we helped shape the state recovery plan, secured broad backing for reintroduction, and worked with tribal, federal, and provincial partners to release more than 250 fishers between 2008 and 2020.
Today, fishers are reproducing and dispersing across their restored range, and we continue to support monitoring and habitat stewardship to ensure this success endures. This recovery remains one of Washington’s most significant wildlife comeback stories—and one we are proud to have helped lead.
Current Focus
Work We’re Doing to Achieve Fisher Goals
Reintroduction Leadership
Thanks to generous donor support, Conservation Northwest helped launch Washington’s fisher recovery by funding the 2002 feasibility study that shaped the state’s restoration strategy.
We contributed to the development of the 2006 state recovery plan, which identified reintroduction as essential because no nearby populations could naturally recolonize Washington. Advocacy from our staff, members, and activists helped demonstrate strong public support for restoring this native species, building momentum for a multi-year, multi-partner effort.
Beginning in 2008 and continuing through 2020, fishers were live-captured in central British Columbia and later Alberta for release into Washington, with CNW staff and cross-border relationships playing a key role in securing animals for the program.
Long-Term Recovery
Today, fisher reintroduction is considered one of Washington’s most successful wildlife recovery stories, and we continue to support it through long-term monitoring.
Our Community Wildlife Monitoring Program helps track fisher presence and reproduction across the Cascades and Olympics, providing data that complements agency surveys and informs ongoing management. By maintaining a volunteer-powered monitoring network, we help ensure that recovery progress is documented and that emerging challenges are detected early.
Reintroducing this native species helps restore biodiversity across the Cascades, creating healthier and more resilient ecosystems. Fishers also contribute to forest health by helping control populations of porcupines and other rodents. Establishing viable populations in the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges is an important step toward downlisting the species from endangered to threatened in Washington and ensuring it does not require federal endangered species protection in the future.
Impact & Results
A History of Fisher Work
The recovery of fishers in Washington is the result of decades of conservation planning, scientific research, and coordinated reintroduction efforts. Understanding the species’ decline and the steps taken to restore it provides important context for one of the state’s most successful wildlife recoveries.
Historical Extirpation and Loss of Breeding Populations Across Washington’s Forested Landscapes
Scientific Foundations and Policy Framework Establishing Fisher Reintroduction Strategy in Washington State
Current Conservation Status and Ongoing Recovery Responsibilities Under Federal and State Protections
Historical Extirpation and Loss of Breeding Populations Across Washington’s Forested Landscapes
Fishers were completely extirpated from Washington by the mid 1900s due to unregulated trapping, predator control campaigns, and widespread habitat loss. For decades, no breeding population remained anywhere in the state, leaving only scattered historical records and making Washington entirely dependent on reintroduction to restore the species.
Scientific Foundations and Policy Framework Establishing Fisher Reintroduction Strategy in Washington State
A 2002 feasibility study and the 2006 Washington State Fisher Recovery Plan established the scientific and policy framework for reintroducing fishers, identifying suitable habitat, population targets, and long term monitoring needs. These documents created the foundation for multi-year reintroduction efforts across the Olympics and Cascades and remain the guiding framework for recovery today.
Current Conservation Status and Ongoing Recovery Responsibilities Under Federal and State Protections
Fishers are now listed as endangered in Washington and federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, reflecting ongoing vulnerability to habitat fragmentation, incidental mortality, and limited population size. These protections require coordinated recovery actions, long term monitoring, and habitat stewardship across federal, state, Tribal, and private lands.
Impact & Results
Our Key Accomplishments in Forest Habitat
From protecting critical landscapes to advancing collaborative forest restoration, these efforts deliver lasting benefits for wildlife, habitat connectivity, and climate resilience.
Olympic Reintroduction
Establishing a self-sustaining fisher population on the Olympic Peninsula through early reintroduction efforts
Following the 2002 feasibility study and 2006 recovery plan, 90 fishers were released on the Olympic Peninsula between 2008 and 2010, establishing a population that has since been confirmed reproducing and dispersing, with an estimated 120 animals on the peninsula by 2017.
Cascades Expansion
Expanding fisher recovery into the South and Central Cascades with successful multi-year reintroduction
From late 2015 through early 2017, roughly 80 fishers were reintroduced to the South and Central Cascades, first on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and then in Mount Rainier National Park, with reproduction documented and individuals now ranging from Mount Adams to the I 90 corridor.
Cascades Completion
Completing multi-region fisher restoration efforts across Washington’s historic range after wildfire delays
Supported restoration treatments across priority landscapes around the Kettle Crest and Colville region, improving habitat resilience for lynx, mule deer, and wide ranging carnivores while reducing catastrophic wildfire risk. Staff consistently bridged policy and implementation by securing funding, aligning partners, and moving projects through NEPA into on the ground action.
Fisher Facts
Behavioral and physical traits that make fishers skilled forest-dwelling carnivores
- Like most species in the weasel family, fishers (Martes pennanti) are successful hunters, curious and intelligent. And they are excellent tree climbers.
- Fishers have important cultural values for some Native American and First Nations cultures.
- Even in areas where they are relatively abundant, fishers are secretive and rarely seen.
- Fishers favor older forests with high canopy cover, and mature and old-growth forests. They rest, nest and take cover in downed wood, high cavities in dead tree snags and clumps of tree branches.
- Fishers are carnivores, hunting and eating small mammals like mountain beavers. Like other carnivores, they also relish carrion (a lot less work!). Fishers are one of the only forest carnivores known to hunt porcupines–no small feat.
- Fishers range across North America where they haven’t been wiped out locally. People have named them many things, including black cat, fisher cat, pekan, pequam, wejack and woods-otter.
- Fishers are creatures of the forests, not water, and their favorite foods are small mammals, not fish. Their unusual common name is thought to come from the French word fichet, for the pelt of a European polecat. It may also have originated from trappers who used fish as bait to catch fishers.
Related News
Fishers released at Olympic National Park to boost restoration efforts for housecat-sized member of weasel family
Fisher photographed on trail camera near I-90 Wildlife Crossings
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