Many animals are threatened or endangered as they continue to lose habitat to humans and our insatiable quest for development. But every once in a while, we hear about a species that is actually expanding its range. That is the case with fishers here in New York and Pennsylvania.

Fishers were extirpated from all of PA and most of NY (except remote areas of the Adirondacks) in the early 1900s. In the 1970s, they were reintroduced in a few other areas of New York. Pennsylvania released 190 of them in the mid to late 1990s.

Both of those programs have been successful. In fact, here in NY fishers can be found everywhere but Long Island and New York City. After studying the population and its expansion for several decades, the DEC has decided to make changes to the season for fishers. They have also changed the season for American Martin, its smaller feisty cousin.

The season has been changed for both to be a little later when pelts are more prime, and fur is thicker. There is no limit on fisher. There is a limit of 6 per season on American Martin.

There is no longer (not in the past few years) any special permit required to harvest fisher. Anyone traveling to the Adirondacks for martin must get a free permit from a Regional Wildlife Office. Both animals require a furbearer possession tag and must be sealed.

The DEC has been studying fisher along with Cornell University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The research has shown that fisher populations are basically food limited. They are naturally expanding in central and western NY.

There is a four-page document on the DEC website that contains a wealth of information about how they did the study and how they reached their conclusions. It has a great “heat map” of the population change over time and I encourage everyone to check it out.

The one exception to the trend of fisher population increase occurred in the Adirondacks. This caused the DEC to shorten the season there from 46 to 30 days to stabilize the number of animals.

It’s nice to see the DEC folks doing a good job of monitoring animals and readily changing the regulations as needed. The new seasons and limits for fisher and American Martin will be reviewed in five years and changed if needed.

Fisher and martin (yes, I still have to correct myself and call them American Martin instead of Pine Martin) are fascinating animals, as are all mustelids (members of the weasel family). Someone once said, “it’s not the size of the dog in a fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Those words apply well to the ferocious mustelids.

We will learn more about Fishers and Martin in the future, so stay tuned.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!

John S. Van Etten is the current president of the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County, Inc.