Pennsylvania Game News - July 2016 - 11

T

HE FISHER has made the
most of its second chance in
the Keystone State. Today,
this tree weasel probably
inhabits more of Pennsylvania than it did before the Civil War.
Its resurgence is tied to fisher releases
from 1994 to 1998 through a collaborative
effort involving the Game Commission,
state Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources, and Penn State University to restore Pennsylvania's fisher
population.
Through much of the 20th century,
fishers had disappeared across the Commonwealth. They weren't considered part
of the state's wildlife community.
Loss of habitat and, to a lesser degree,
unregulated harvest pushed Pennsylvania's fishers into extirpation - local
extinction. The last two were reported
taken in Lancaster County. One in March
1896 was shot as a "chicken thief" near
Mill Creek, about 2 miles north of Birdin-Hand. The other was captured in 1921,
3 miles south of Holtwood. Neither site
hardly could be considered fisher range, in
19th or 21st century Pennsylvania.
If fishers in Pennsylvania have taught
us anything over the past 20 years, it's that
there's more to these porcupine-killing,
so-called habitat specialists than believed
during the early days of their recovery.
They have thrived across the Commonwealth, especially with the protection
provided through regulated seasons and
bag limits.
"Without a doubt, fishers are more
adaptable than we ever thought," explained
Matt Lovallo, who supervises the Game
Commission's Game Mammals Section.
"Fishers in the Mid-Atlantic states are
breaking all the rules, in terms of habitat
associations.
"The question is no longer, 'What is
JULY 2016

fisher habitat?' But rather, 'What is not
fisher habitat?'"
Given the fisher population's upswing,
the Game Commission partnered with
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)
to get a better handle on fisher habitat
usage, genetics and diet, as well as the
occupancy rates of specific fisher study
areas. It wouldn't take long for this inimitable furbearer to dazzle the researchers.
For instance, IUP found there was
little overlap among the home ranges
of females, but male home ranges overlapped considerably. But that's not all. The
females maintained home ranges about
2.6 square miles on a Cambria County
study area. The males occupied home
ranges of about 11.7 square miles.
But these home ranges were documented in a local population with one of
the highest densities in the state. Other
research by Roger A. Powell, suggested
females had a mean home range of
roughly 9.3 miles and males, 23.6 square
miles. The overlap of male home ranges
is an adaptation that promotes maximized
breeding opportunities, Lovallo added.
It's is important to bear in mind,
though, that fisher home ranges are at their
largest from April through June, when
fishers breed. Home ranges are at their
smallest in mid-winter as fishers conserve
energy and bunker near food sources.
Another distinction sorted out in
the fieldwork was that "Pennsylvania's
deciduous forests and topography provide conditions highly suitable for fisher
occupancy and population growth,"
assessed IUP's Jeff Larkin, collaborating
with graduate students Hance Ellington
and Jennifer Wester, in Estimating Fisher
Population Size and Distribution in Pennsylvania.
Originally, it was thought Pennsylvania's dominant hardwood forests might
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2016
