The Fish and Wildlife Service declared Friday that an oft-litigated West Coast population of forest-dwelling mammals known as the fisher does not warrant Endangered Species Act protection.
In the latest turn of a long-running ESA dispute, the federal agency said it had determined the fisher’s Northern California-southern Oregon distinct population segment is not in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future.
“The best available information at this time suggests that abundance of fishers across the [region] is overall stable as evidenced by continued observations throughout the … area over time,” FWS reported.
FWS estimates the Northern California-southern Oregon distinct population segment currently numbers between 2,500 and 4,000 fishers.
