In 1998, the state formally listed the fisher as endangered, and in 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the West Coast fisher as a federal candidate for listing as an endangered or threatened species.
Officials on Thursday said they are seeking public input on a proposed plan to reintroduce the Pacific fisher to Mount Rainier and North Cascades national parks.
Absent from Washington since the mid-1990s, the Pacific fisher — a member of the weasel family that lives in low- to mid-elevation closed canopy forests with large trees and logs — is the only native carnivore that is no longer found within the Cascade Range of Washington State, according to Ken Hires, the Stehekin District interpreter for the North Cascades National Park Complex
In 1998, the state formally listed the fisher as endangered, and in 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the West Coast fisher as a federal candidate for listing as an endangered or threatened species.
To restore this species to its historical range in Washington, Mount Rainier and North Cascades national parks are proposing to team up with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to reintroduce fishers to the North and South Cascades — the last two of the three major ecosystems statewide where successful fisher reintroduction is needed in order to meet Washington’s recovery goals for this species, Hires said in a release.
Public comment on the proposed reintroduction may be submitted between Aug. 15 and Sept. 30. During this time, comments may be submitted online at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/RestoreFisher or by mail to North Cascades National Park Complex, 810 State Route 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA, 98284.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympic National Park staff successfully reintroduced fishers at Olympic National Park from 2008 to 2010.
“It is very exciting to partner with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Mount Rainier National Park to reintroduce the fisher to this area,” North Cascades National Park Complex Superintendent Karen Taylor-Goodrich said. “Reintroducing any species, much less one as wild as the fisher, is a complex and dynamic process and requires the collaboration of landowners and managers across the landscape to be successful.”
