Cascades fisher reintroduction project: Progress report for December 2015 to March 2017

Lewis JC, Chestnut T, Ransom JI, Werntz DO. 2017. Cascades fisher reintroduction project: Progress report for December 2015 to March 2017. Natural Resource Report. NPS/PWR/NRR—2017/1486. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado

Fishers (Pekania pennanti) were extirpated from Washington as a result of over-trapping, habitat loss, and predator eradication programs. A mid-sized member of the weasel family, fishers occurred in the coniferous forests of Washington until the early and mid-1900s. We established a partnership between federal, state, and non-profit organizations with the goal to restore fishers to their former range in Washington. This partnership reintroduced 90 fishers from British Columbia to Olympic National Park from 2008 to 2010, and we are now in the second year of a reintroduction project to restore fishers to Mount Rainier National Park (MRNP), Gifford Pinchot National Forest (GPNF) and the larger South Cascade Ecosystem. In Year 1 of the project, we released 23 fishers (11 F, 12 M; each with a radio-transmitter) at a single release site on the GPNF and we monitored their movements and survival via aerial and ground telemetry. In Year 2, we released an additional 46 fishers (27 F, 19 M; each with a radio-transmitter), with 16 fishers released at one site in MRNP and 30 released at one site in GPNF. We have relocated individual females using telemetry an average of 19 times (range 2-30, standard deviation 8.6) and males 12 times (range 5-22, standard deviation 6.5). We documented an apparent survival rate of 78.3% (5 deaths of 23 released) in the Year 1 cohort, and surviving individuals appear to have localized. We did not document reproduction in Year 1, however nearly all released animals were age 0-1 in that time period. Year 3-5 of the project aims to release 80 fishers in the North Cascade Ecosystem, with continued monitoring across both restoration areas.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Lewis, Jeffrey; Chestnut, Tara; Ransom, Jason; Werntz, David
Date of Issue
2017-07
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
MORA , NRSS
Keywords
British Columbia, carnivore, Cascade Mountains, fisher, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, home range, mortality, mustelid, North Cascades, radio-transmitter, reintroduction, release, restoration, South Cascades, survival, wildlife
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | At-risk Biota | T&E Species and Communities

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