Wildlife Success Stories
John Carey
A little-known federal grant program for the states is helping to keep nongame species from becoming endangered
THE FISHER ONCE ROAMED THROUGH FORESTS across the northern United States, feeding on porcupines, hares and other prey. A relative of martens and weasels, fishers “are totally incredible animals,” says Jeffrey Lewis, a biologist for the state of Washington. “They have a lean, mean, teddy bear quality—and are very capable predators.” Nevertheless, they were not crafty enough to escape the fur industry’s insatiable demand for luxurious furs during the early 20th century. With a single pelt fetching more than $500 in the 1930s ($7,000 in today’s dollars), trappers drove the fisher toward extinction in many states. Logging and roadkills were the coup de grace. The last one known in Washington was caught in a trap in 1969.
But now, this iconic forest denizen is prowling Washington’s Olympic Peninsula once again. Since late 2007, Lewis has led a small team that has been transporting fishers from British Columbia, where the animals are still relatively abundant, and releasing them on the peninsula. So far, the biologists have moved 90 animals and are planning reintroductions in the state’s Cascades region. The researchers don’t know exactly how the transplants are faring—the animals are secretive, and their radio transmitters recently died—but evidence from pictures and a few roadkills suggests that the new arrivals are surviving and reproducing. “Things are looking better than they were,” Lewis says.
If the fishers are indeed able to continue their comeback in Washington, the project will be yet another success for a small, little-known federal effort called the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). It was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000, with the support of Teaming With Wildlife, a coalition of more than 6,400 state fish and wildlife agencies, biologists, hunters, anglers, birdwatchers and other conservationists put together in the 1990s by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. . . .
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