photo by Peggy Sells

1/30/12    

     In recent years, field studies have added new information about existing populations of the Pacific fisher.  The question was raised as to whether there is any validity to the anecdotal decline in the abundance of porcupines, and if so, does it contribute to the lack of fishers in areas of previously occupied habitat? Since the porcupine has historically been a prey species for the fisher, the relative abundance or paucity of porcupines in historic fisher habitat could be one factor that affects the fisher.

     Accordingly, to attempt to fill the gap of information about the porcupine’s current status, CSERC initiated a yearlong effort to collect reports of porcupine sightings in the region that stretches from Lake Tahoe south through the southern end of the Sierra Nevada.

Read CSERC's 2011 Porcupine Sighting Report

To learn more about its life history, read the California
Department of Fish and Game summary of the porcupine (a .pdf file)