Homecoming: more fishers released in North Cascades ecosystem

Staff and supporters of North Cascades Institute were thrilled to be invited to attend the release of eight more fishers in to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the Darrington area on Thursday, December 12 — and be a part of history!

The fishers were captured in Alberta, Canada as part of a multi-year project to reintroduce around 80 fishers to the North Cascades. Fishers are mammals and a house cat-sized member of the weasel family. They were eliminated from Washington by the mid-1900s as a result of over-trapping and habitat loss. They are listed as an endangered species by the state of Washington, and depend upon old growth forests to access trees for resting and denning trees that are crucial for their survival.

Photos by Joan Poor.

Getting healthy fishers from Canada to Washington is no simple task—read the story behind their journey that leads them back into the Cascades at www.conservationnw.org/the-fisher-journey.

Learn more about this statewide restoration project from the National Park Service at www.nps.gov/noca/learn/nature/washington-fisher-restoration.htm.