They’re not as cute and cuddly as koalas or as eye-catching as orcas, but fishers are currently in the spotlight.

Fishers once roamed freely in the Cascades, Olympic Peninsula and parts of southwestern and northeastern Washington before they were doomed by trapping and habitat loss.

Their pelts were second in value ($150) only to sea otter pelts around the turn of the century. Trapping for fishers in this state was banned in 1934, but the population never recovered. Logging and population growth doomed the rest.

Extensive surveys have not located any fishers in the state, although there have been a few unconfirmed sightings.

The fisher is a missing link in the Washington state food chain that humans are trying to replace by reintroducing fishers into Olympic National Park.

Losing one species can have consequences, usually negative. What about reintroducing that missing link, as the Washington State Department of Wildlife and the National Park Service propose?

“It’s hard to know. There may be some adjustments, more competition between fishers and some other predators,” said Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Jeff Lewis, who has been involved with the recovery plans.

“There may be certain prey species overabundant now, in the absence of fishers, whose population may go down (but) we don’t anticipate a huge shake-up … the ecosystem as a whole may just function as it historically did,” Lewis said.

The powerful fisher is a member of the weasel family, so it’s related to otter, mink and marten. About as heavy as a hefty house cat (5-12 pounds), an adult runs 2½ to 3½ feet long, including a bushy tail that can stretch up to one-third of its length.

Solitary (except when breeding) creatures of the night, fishers feed mostly on the ground on small mammals, but also eat insects, birds, fruit and deer carcasses.

They’re well-known for being able to cope with porcupines and the dangerous quills. Staying low, the low-slung fisher keeps biting at the head and avoiding the tail of quills.

In Michigan, fishers were reintroduced because the “porcupine population had gone through the roof … fishers were reintroduced to control the porcupine populations that were damaging timber,” Lewis said.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Fishers roam in low- and mid-elevation mature forests, so managed second-growth forests usually aren’t suitable, and there aren’t many large tracts of mature forests left.

Fishers use snags, logs and large live trees for resting, giving birth and dens. Although they swim, they don’t eat fish. They have semi-retractable claws and very flexible wrist and ankle joints that allow them to easily climb up a tree — and descend head first.

Over a three-year period, about 100 fishers from British Columbia will be released, assuming that the B.C. powers-that-be approve the relocation. Each fisher will have a radio collar.

“We’ll know where they go and where they stay on national park, national forest, private or DNR lands. We’ll know how many there are and how long they’re surviving,” Lewis said.

Since the wide-ranging animals have a hunting circuit of about 18 miles, some may range off public lands, although, since they’re fairly secretive, they prefer remote areas. That isn’t to say in some cases population growth may press up against their territories, in which case a fisher might prey on domestic cats or poultry.

The first areas to receive fishers will be Elwha, Sol Duc, Hoh, Bogachiel, Queets and Quinault. Reintroduction has worked for fishers in several states.

“We hope they survive to find a mate and reproduce and reestablish a self-sustaining population. We’re hopeful. If we can put them out there, we have a good shot.”

The final recovery plan has been released and public comment is welcomed until Oct. 10. Links to several documents can be found at www.nps.gov/olym. Comments can be given online at parkplanning.nps.gov/olym.

Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.