Pacific Fisher – State Wildlife Action Plan

The Pacific fisher is a medium-sized carnivorous mammal in the Mustelidae (weasel) family, native to the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest in North America. In Oregon, they are found primarily in southern Oregon in the Klamath and Cascade Mountains.

The pelage is long except on the face. The fur is dark brown grading to black on the rump and legs; the tail is black. the head is somewhat pointed, the body elongate, and the legs short.

Overview

Species Common Name Pacific Fisher
Species Scientific Name Pekania pennanti
State Listing Status Sensitive

Ecoregions

Coast Range

Oregon's Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

East Cascades

The East Cascade ecoregion extends from the Cascade Mountains' summit east to the warmer, drier high desert and down the length of the state. This ecoregion varies dramatically from its cool, moist border with the West Cascades ecoregion to its dry eastern border, where it meets sagebrush desert landscapes.

Klamath Mountains

The Klamath Mountains ecoregion covers much of southwestern Oregon, including the Klamath Mountains, Siskiyou Mountains, the interior valleys and foothills between these and the Cascade Range, and the Rogue and Umpqua river valleys. Several popular and scenic rivers run through the ecoregion, including the Umpqua, Rogue, Illinois, and Applegate rivers. Historically, this ecoregion is known …

West Cascades

The West Cascades ecoregion extends from east of the Cascade Mountains summit to the foothills of the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue Valleys, and spans the entire length of the state of Oregon. It is largely dominated by conifer forests, moving into alpine parklands and dwarf shrubs at higher elevations.

Special needs

Fishers are found in forests and riparian corridors with moderate to dense canopy cover and diverse structural stages and plant communities. They use cavities in live or dead standing trees for den sites. Fishers prey on small mammals, including snowshoe hares and porcupines.

Limiting factors

Fishers have extensive home ranges, low reproductive rates, and specialized habitat requirements for den sites. The species is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation due to timber harvest and wildfires. Ingestion of anticoagulant rodenticides threatens the health of Pacific fishers.

Data gaps

• Determine whether populations are expanding and/or reestablishing in extirpated areas.
• Evaluate the effects of various habitat conditions on fisher persistence.
• Identify natural or anthropogenic factors that facilitate or impede movement of fishers.
• Explore feasibility of reintroductions, including ecological and genetic constraints.
• Develop standardized protocols for assessing resource availability and habitat suitability before reintroductions.

Conservation actions

• Maintain complex forest structure with large trees within the fisher’s range.
• Improve habitat patch size and connectivity to provide for dispersal, genetic interchange, and population expansion.
• Use results of feasibility studies to guide specific conservation actions and management decisions for potential reintroductions.
• Work with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service to review outcomes of conservation actions.
• Develop a fisher conservation strategy.

Key reference or plan

USFWS Pacific Fisher Species Profile with Species Status Assessment in development. Read here

Barry, B. R. 2018. Distribution, habitat associations, and conservation status of Pacific fisher (Pekania pennanti) in Oregon. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

Martin, M. E., K. M. Moriarty, S. Hayner, M. Fiorella, C. D. Ducey, B. Hollen, and S. M. Matthews. 2025. Forest Structure and Stand Characteristics Influence the Space Use and Fine‐Scale Movements of Fishers (Pekania pennanti). Animal Conservation.