Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center

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Pacific Fisher: Over a Decade of Work Toward Protection

UPDATE: Feds Recognize Pacific Fishers Are Threatened!

US Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes to List Fishers Under the Endangered Species Act

KS Wild and our conservation allies have been working hard for decades to try to stem the loss of Pacific Fishers and their old-growth habitat. Climate change and the increasing use of rodenticide poisons in pot grows throughout the region have only made things worse.

Finally a bit of good news. The US Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes what the science has been saying for years- that the survival of Pacific Fishers in the region is seriously threatened and that we must change course if this species is to survive into the future.

The proposed federal listing in response to our petition and lawsuit is a great first step. With your help we intend to strengthen the proposed rule and ensure that this wild carnivore roams the forests of the Klamath Siskiyous for years to come.


How can you resist a face like this? Credit: USFWS

A friend of Old-Growth Forests

The Pacific fisher became a primary focus of KS Wild's research and advocacy efforts very early in the history of the organization. KS Wild considers the fisher a key indicator species for the health of the Klamath-Siskiyou ecosystem, and we are alarmed by the species' decline throughout its west coast range.

Take action to protect this amazing species and the forest it depends on!

The Pacific Fisher needs help

We realized in the late 1990s that the west coast fisher would require additional protection in order to survive, and we subsequently decided to help lead the effort to list the population under the Endangered Species Act. Since 2000, KS Wild has engaged in numerous efforts to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list Pacific fishers under the Endangered Species Act. Decades of work to protect the Pacific Fisher

Decades of Work

For the past 17 years we have participated in listing petitions, provided technical comments on Fish and Wildlife Service documents concerning Pacific fishers, and successfully challenged Fish and Wildlife Service attempts to evade its legal responsibility to protect the species. We have also provided technical comments to Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service project planners concerning hundreds of proposed federal land management projects in the Klamath-Siskiyou region advocating for the retention of habitat benefiting Pacific fishers.

Read the Judge’s Order on Cross Motions for Summary Judgement from the US District Court.

A Pacific fisher is released in Mount Rainier National Park as part of an attempt to repopulate regions where fishers once lived. Credit: NPS

Send a letter to urge the protection of this amazing animal!

A cute and fuzzy Pacific fisher Credit: USFWS