We will further evaluate the suitability of a western portion of the southern oregon cascades to support a reintroduced and self-sustaining population of fishers

The Oregon State University will receive $300,000 from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 under a Cooperative Agreement to further evaluate the suitability of fisher habitat in southern Oregon and develop genetic tools to identify fisher predators and competitors from scat samples. The university will survey proposed fisher reintroduction areas for species that prey on or compete with fishers, such as bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, and gray foxes using scat-detection teams. Concurrently, genetic markers will be developed to identify individual fishers and their predators and competitors from scat. With future funding, the researchers intend to estimate densities of predator and competitor populations within potential fisher habitat and compare to occupied fisher range. This award supports the Candidate Species Conservation program's objective to secure information that can help prevent federal listings of at-risk species. The completion date is December 31, 2026.

Habitat suitability evaluations, the recent documented movement between the two fisher populations in southern oregon, an assessment of fisher connectivity, and empirical estimates of predator and competitor occupancy support prioritizing portions of the southern oregon cascades for a fisher reintroduction. A further evaluation of suitability will include a more complete understanding of the predator and competitor community reintroduced fishers will encounter. We will develop genetic tools to individually identify fishers and fisher predators and competitors from scat samples. Concurrently, we will survey proposed reintroduction areas for species that frequently consume fishers (i.e., bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes) and compete with fishers (i.e., grey FOX) using scat-detection teams. With future funding, we will estimate the abundance and spatial patterns of predator and competitor densities in the proposed fisher reintroduction area and make comparisons to occupied portions of fisher range.