Are fishers moving into Alaska?

Alaska Wildlife News (AWN) reports in the May issue that fishers, a large cousin of the familiar Alaska marten, appear to be moving into SE Alaska.

AWN reported that ADF&G Juneau Area Biologist Neil Barten said he’s learned of three more fishers that were trapped in recent years, including a second animal trapped by Nelson. Barten now has one animal in the freezer at the Douglas Fish and Game office that came from the Taku River, near Grizzly Bar, and Barten hopes to take some genetic information from that animal. Others came from the Eagle River area.

“It would be interesting to see what the source population is, and if the fishers moving into Southeast are from the same source population,” Barten said in the AWN article. “I don’t doubt there are a few more around.”