9 November 2013

Fishers are back in Virginia!

Posted by Callan Bentley

I got word yesterday that the fisher, a medium-sized mustelid (Like a marten, an animal that I’ve seen once up in the Adirondacks of New York), has begun re-colonizing wild parts of Virginia.

This is pretty exciting news – a friend from high school shared the image below with me:

PICT0170 (1)

That’s from a wildlife camera on my friend’s family’s land in northwestern Shenandoah County, in the Cedar Creek Valley. That’s about ten miles from my place, as the raven flies. The state’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has confirmed the identity of the fisher in my friend’s photo. They have an information campaign going on:

VA-fisher

The DGIF has confirmed fisher sightings in Frederick, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, and Botetourt Counties. We could very well have these critters here on our land in the Fort Valley – a tantalizing prospect!

I just purchased and deployed my own wildlife camera; I’m looking forward to sharing images – perhaps even images of fishers! – in the months and years to come.