STATE UNVEILS FISHER MANAGEMENT PLAN

Since their reintroduction in the 1990s, fishers have done well for themselves in Pennsylvania, expanding their range considerably.

"That was no mountain lion," was Deb Forry's immediate reaction as a furry, sleek figure crept down the hillside, across the Rt. 44/144 intersection and quickly made its way into the woods along Little Kettle Creek.

Forry took a certain amount of pride in identifying the visitor to her little town of Oleana in southern Potter County.

"Where else in Pennsylvania can you say that a fisher came right through town?" she asked a visiting journalist.

Forry became the latest person to spot a native species that is making a comeback in northcentral Pennsylvania, thanks to the Game Commission reintroduction program.

Several years after bringing back the cat-like furbearer, the Game Commission has drafted a management plan that's open to public input at the website, pgc.state.pa.us.

Calvin W. DuBrock, the agency's director of wildlife management, said the plan is "science-based, progressive and promotes responsible management."

It was developed by Dr. Matthew Lovallo, who supervises the PGC's Game Mammals Section, as a summary of fisher biology and population trends, as well as possible harvest management approaches.

Pennsylvania reintroduced the fisher in 1994, when 22 of the animals were released on the Sproul State Forest in Centre and Clinton counties. Eventually, the stocking grew to 190 over a four-year period.

This large member of the weasel family disappeared in the state by the early 1900s as a result of deforestation and unregulated trapping.

A decade later, fishers have expanded their range from release sites in the Quehanna Wild Area, Allegheny National Forest, Pine Creek Valley and the Pocono Mountains. Fishers also have been expanding their

Additional information on fishers is available from the PGC website.