WCS Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund Portal

This project has been working for policy change and improvement of the Hoopa Tribe’s Forest Management Plan and to host a field-based workshop that will enable Tribal and CA biologists and foresters to more effectively identify critical elements of forest structure for fisher across the over 12.9 million acres of fisher habitat in the Pacific states.

Funding

Demographic monitoring of long-lived wildlife species to assess impacts of anthropogenic habitat change requires several years of consistent data collection. This project has no single source of consistent funding and relies on annual grant opportunities and generous private contributions to raise the $250,000 required annually.

Primary motivations:

Conservation Mission

Primary goals:

Conserving a viable population of fisher and fisher habitat on the Hoopa Valley Reservation and throughout the Pacific range of fisher

Progress:

Taking the data collected over an ongoing research project we are working with the Hoopa Tribe to make changes to their forest management plan to better conserve critical habitat elements and we will conduct a field-based workshop with foresters and biologists from the Hoopa Tribe and CA Departments of Fish and Game and Forestry to assist them in identifying possible fisher rest and den structures for their conservation during timber management activities.

Consistent with plans:

Local Land Use Plan

Forest Plan

Species Recovery Plan

Conservation Plan

State Wildlife Action Plan

Targeted habitats:

• Forests and Woodlands
  • Mixed Hardwoods and Conifer

Targeted species:

• Fisher - West Coast Distinct Population Segment Martes pennanti pop. 1

Is the success of this project's actions being monitored?   Yes

Please describe your monitoring activity.

We intend to monitor the fisher population in Hoopa long-term to determine the impacts of our forest management recommendations on fisher survival and fecundity. We will also measure success by the number of forest managers we are able to extend our recommendations to through our workshop, reports, scientific publications, and presentations at professional societies.

What lessons have been learned and/or what suggestions do you have for similar activities?

Monitoring the survival and fecundity of long-lived wildlife populations provide the greatest insights into the impacts of large scale habitat change. However, garnering consistent support and the reliable financial resources required is extremely challenging.