If Sierra National Forest gets cleared of brush, dead trees, the fisher will flourish

A lawsuit intended to stall forest management projects on the Sierra, Sequoia and Stanislaus National Forests will only contribute to more catastrophic wildfires, insect infestation and disease on public lands. If the goal of this litigation is truly to “protect” the Pacific fisher, an otter-like animal, delaying these projects for years could have unintended consequences for this species, its habitat and those of us who live near these national forests.

When it “uplisted” the southern Sierra Nevada population of Pacific fisher to endangered, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service identified wildfire, climate change, tree mortality, predation, toxicants, and vehicle collisions as the primary factors impacting the species. While some point to logging, timber harvests on the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests are just 5.5 percent of annual growth.

All three national forests suffer from overstocked conditions that are contributing to high tree mortality. As we witnessed during the Creek Fire, dead and dying trees serve as fuel for unnaturally severe wildfires that result in significant losses of fisher habitat. Wildfires are also converting forests into non-forests. On the Sierra National Forest, it is estimated over 583,000 acres are now brush fields and are in need of reforestation.

Selective logging, thinning and prescribed fires are tools that public lands managers can use to reduce these risks. These projects can also be designed to create or maintain the structural elements necessary to quality fisher habitat, but the lawsuit could make these efforts more difficult to implement.

In the Fresno Bee’s April 22 story on the lawsuit, a litigant makes claims that active forest management doesn’t reduce wildfire risks. Yet forest management treatments near Shaver Lake proved effective in slowing the spread of the Creek Fire, giving firefighters better and safer opportunities to contain the blaze from causing further destruction. That is why Californians, especially those living in forested communities, support efforts to accelerate active management and fuels reduction to save lives, structures, forests and wildlife habitat.

The Southern Sierra Nevada Fisher Conservation Strategy is a collaborative group of federal, state, tribal and private entities that is working to improve fisher conservation and land management. It is pursuing science-based work to reduce the threats to this species and its habitat. Litigation is not collaboration. Tying the hands of public lands managers and its scientists and preventing them from implementing restoration projects on federal lands is unlikely to support the group’s goal to meet the conservation and management needs of the species.

Collaborative efforts are benefiting the Northern California-Southern Oregon population of the Pacific fisher. Over two million acres of privately owned forest lands have been enrolled under six conservation agreements protecting existing and promoting new fisher habitat. Though this population is distinct from its biological cousins in the Southern Sierra Nevada, fishers have been observed moving into, and thriving, in areas that are being managed for timber production.

We should support these kinds of collaborative efforts that utilize the best available science and modern forest practices to protect Pacific fisher habitat, reduce tree mortality and severe wildfires. It is unfortunate that some are choosing to litigate instead of collaborate, especially when active forest management can provide positive outcomes for wildlife, people and communities.

Sadly, these litigious organizations are environmental denialists. They refuse to consider the empirical evidence their policies regarding forest management have had. Rather than reduce carbon emissions, mega-fires have set California and other Western states behind in their carbon reduction efforts and the protection of its ecosystems.

As one longtime dedicated Forest Service employee told us, “we in the Forest Service do not want to hurt the forest, we want to just make it healthier, but many times our hands are tied and we end up with devastating fires. Please continue to educate the public because that is the only way we will be able to make our forest healthier.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 10:54 AM.