State trust lands managed by DNR are part of an effort to reintroduce fishers to the Olympic Peninsula. The project, which involves the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Olympic National Park, started in December 2007. Over the next three winters, 90 fishers from central British Columbia (50 females, 40 males) have been released into the national park.
All of these animals have been monitored with radiotelemetry. Many have been seen on still and video images. The images show scientists can see their remarkable movement patterns, as well as population processes such as mortality, reproduction, and seasonal movements for mating.
In early April 2010, one of last winter’s released females (F088, who came in pregnant) began denning in a tree in a DNR-managed area between Sequim and Port Angeles, south of Highway 101 on the north Olympic Peninsula. The female found denning space in a leave tree–a cedar snag about 40 inches in diameter near the base. DNR left that tree and several others to provide wildlife habitat after a timber sale in 1998.
DNR and Olympic National Park biologists placed several motion-sensitive cameras around the den to record F088’s behavior. The cameras quickly detected that F088 was likely caring for newly born kits.
Monitoring reproduction is critical to evaluate the performance of any reintroduction. The photo-monitoring provided evidence of normal behavior through late May when a bobcat was recorded attempting to enter the den. Shortly afterwards, F088 apparently abandoned the den but appeared to confine her movements to a relatively local area which was encouraging evidence that she may have salvaged one or more kits from the bobcat’s attempted predation.
More photos and documentation of what happen next to F088 and her kits in tomorrow’s Ear to the Ground.
