Pacific Fisher Comments Needed - Aug 03'

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COMMENTS NEEDED TO PROTECT PACIFIC FISHER
Elusive Fisher Could Face Extinction
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has invited public comments on its preliminary finding that the Pacific fisher may require protection under the Endangered Species Act in California, Oregon, and Washington. This beautiful, mink-like mammal needs ancient forests to survive, and letters are needed by September 8 to ensure the fisher receives the full protection it needs and deserves!

Logging and early fur-trapping decimated fisher populations throughout the west coast. Only three small, isolated populations remain, including native populations in northwestern California and the southern Sierra Nevada, and a reintroduced population in the southern Oregon Cascades. An analysis by Forest Service researchers indicates that, in the absence of stronger protection measures, the fisher is likely to become extinct in the southern Sierra within 50 years.

Threats to the remaining fisher populations could not be more serious or imminent today, with the Bush Administration pushing proposals to increase logging in ancient forests and roadless areas throughout the Sierra and Northwestern California--places that provide the last remaining habitat for Pacific fishers. With so little habitat remaining, further reductions in ancient forests will have dire consequences for the species.

Protection under the Endangered Species Act will help avert these threats. Endangered status for the fisher would require protection of old-growth forests, benefiting the entire ecosystem. It would also provide additional funding for research and boost efforts to reintroduce the fisher into portions of its range where it no longer occurs.

Please send a comment letter by September 8 to support the listing of the Pacific fisher as endangered. A sample comment letter and contact information is below.

BACKGROUND

The Center for Biological Diversity, EPIC, and a coalition of organizations submitted a petition to list the fisher in its west coast range in November 2000. After a lengthy court battle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was ordered to process the petition, and issued a finding on July 10, 2003 that determines the petition presented substantial information to indicate that listing may be warranted. This finding initiates a public comment period, and comments supporting the listing are critical.

MORE INFO ON THE FISHER

Contrary to its name, the fisher does not eat fish. The name probably relates to a poor translation of the name for the European polecat, which is a relative of the fisher and is called the fitch ferret, fichet, or fitche.
Instead of fish, the fisher has a diverse diet, preying on small mammals, snowshoe hares, porcupines, birds, carrion, fruit, and truffles. Because it is the only animal that regularly preys on porcupines, which often kill or
damage small trees, the logging industry reintroduced the fisher to many parts of the U.S., including the southern Cascades in Oregon.

The fisher is closely associated with large, contiguous blocks of mature and old-growth forest. Logging and development have caused severe loss and fragmentation of old-growth forests and now as little as 15% remain in California, Oregon and Washington. Because the fisher cannot fly over logged areas, it is in many ways more sensitive to fragmentation of old forests than the spotted owl. As a result, current management plans, such as the Northwest Forest Plan, that were designed primarily for the spotted owl, marbled murrelet and salmon are inadequate to ensure the survival and recovery of the fisher.

SAMPLE LETTER
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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
2800 Cottage Way
Sacramento, CA 95825-1846
Attn: Jesse Wild
Phone: (916) 414-6600;
Fax: (916) 414-6713;
Email: fisher [at] fws.gov

Subject: Listing of the fisher in its west coast range as an endangered species

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing in support of listing the fisher (Martes pennanti) as an endangered species in its west coast range. The fisher has been decimated by logging of old-growth forests and historic fur-trapping, and is now gone from a majority of its natural range on the west coast.

Although trapping of fishers has been banned in the three west coast states for decades, the species has not recovered. Logging on both private and federal lands continues to fragment and destroy its habitat, and fishers continue to be incidentally trapped in snares set for other furbearers.

Moreover, recent efforts by the Forest Service will substantially undermine existing protections for the fisher. These efforts include proposals to weaken forest protections in the Sierra Nevada, to allow intensive logging in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, and to weaken survey and manage requirements and the Aquatic Conservation Strategy in the Pacific Northwest. Such efforts undermine the substantial gains that have been made in the last decade towards protecting old-growth forests and the species that depend on them, including the fisher. These threats necessitate immediate protection
under the Endangered Species Act.

In sum, please protect the fisher, a truly beautiful and unique animal, under the Endangered Species Act.

Sincerely,


[your name and address]
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