After 200 Years, this Rare Species Returns to Ohio’s Healing Forests

Trail Camera Captures a Fisher

A trail camera in Cleveland Metroparks captured footage of a fisher earlier in 2025, and wildlife officials could barely believe it.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife confirmed it was the first fisher sighting in Cuyahoga County since the species vanished from the area in the mid-1800s.

Wildlife Management Coordinator Andy Burmesch identified the animal after reviewing the footage.

The sighting marks a turning point for a mammal that was considered gone from this part of Ohio for nearly two centuries.

What brought it back, and why now, starts with a story that stretches across three states and more than 30 years.

Fishers Are Not Cats or Fish-Eaters

Despite the name, fishers rarely eat fish and are certainly not cats. They belong to the mustelid family, which includes weasels, otters, and minks.

They have dark fur with splotches of white, pointy snouts, and long bushy tails.

Adults grow to two to four feet long, but about half that length is their tail, and they weigh about as much as a house cat.

The name likely came from European settlers who thought they resembled a polecat called a fichet. They are shy, secretive, and prefer dense forests with plenty of tree cover.

Fur Trappers and Loggers Wiped Them Out

Fishers were extirpated from Ohio by the mid-1800s because of unregulated harvest and loss of habitat. Fur trappers prized their dense, glossy pelts, and loggers cleared the forests they needed to survive.

Farmers and loggers in the 1700s and 1800s cleared New England’s forests, which was prime fisher habitat, and fur trappers targeted fishers for their valuable dense pelts.

By the late 1800s, fishers had vanished from most of the eastern United States, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The last known Ohio fisher disappeared sometime around 1883.

Pennsylvania Started Bringing Them Back

In 1994, Pennsylvania began a five-year reintroduction program by releasing 190 fishers at five different sites across the state’s Northern Tier.

The animals came from New Hampshire, where healthy populations still existed.

Similar fisher restoration efforts in West Virginia and New York were also sending migrants into southwestern Pennsylvania and the Poconos. Wildlife biologists expected slow progress.

Instead, the population growth was incredible, almost exponential. Now the animals roam most of Pennsylvania.

Ohio Got Its First Fisher in 2013

According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2024 furbearer monitoring report, the first modern-day fisher found in the state was in 2013. Nobody reintroduced them to Ohio.

They walked in on their own from Pennsylvania and West Virginia, following the forested corridors that connect the states.

Fishers are naturally migrating into Ohio from populations already established in states like Pennsylvania, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

That first sighting kicked off a decade of slow but steady expansion across northeast Ohio.

Now 10 Counties Have Confirmed Sightings

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, there have been more than 40 confirmed fisher sightings across several northeast Ohio counties including Ashtabula, Columbiana, Geauga, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage, Lake, Jefferson, Harrison, and Tuscarawas.

Since 2013, there have been 56 sightings across eight counties between 2013 and 2024. Two-thirds of those sightings happened in the past three years.

The Cuyahoga County sighting pushed the boundary even further west, showing that fishers are willing to move closer to populated areas if the habitat is right.

A Pregnant Fisher Proved They Are Breeding

In March 2024, a retired veterinarian found a fisher that had been hit by a car on State Route 167 in Ashtabula County. When wildlife officials examined the animal, they discovered she was pregnant.

Just the fact that she was in the state and pregnant is a positive sign for the potential future of this species in Ohio, said Katie Dennison, Wildlife Biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

This was confirmation that the animals are colonizing Ohio again. They are not just wandering through.

They are settling down.

Fishers Hunt Porcupines Like Assassins

Fishers have quick reflexes and a low-slung body, all the makings of a porcupine killer.

First, a fisher will circle the animal, nimbly dodging lashes of the heavily quilled tail, then dart in to bite the porcupine’s unquilled face, attacking repeatedly until subdued.

A porcupine has 30,000 barbed quills, but fishers have developed techniques that help them in this battle. They can even climb above a porcupine in a tree and threaten it back to the ground.

No other predator hunts porcupines this effectively.

Ohio Forests Grew Back Over Decades

The fisher’s return would not be possible without the forests that grew back after Ohio’s farming boom faded.

In the late 1800s, as people began moving to cities and farmlands reverted to forests, fishers slowly returned to areas they had lost.

Fishers prefer wooded areas with overhead canopy because the trees prevent deep snow from accumulating, which helps them hunt in winter.

Cleveland Metroparks now covers more than 25,000 acres across 18 reservations, providing exactly the kind of connected forest habitat fishers need.

Bald Eagles Came Back First

In the mid half of the 20th century, bald eagles were on the endangered species list. In 1979, there were only four breeding pairs in Ohio.

The 2025 census confirmed the presence of 964 nests across 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties, a 36 percent increase from 707 nests in 2020.

The bald eagle is one of Ohio’s great conservation success stories, said Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. That recovery set the stage for other species to follow.

Bobcats and Black Bears Are Returning Too

Black bears, fishers, and bobcats were all native to Ohio but driven out of the state in the 1800s through hunting and loss of habitat. They are making a comeback and spreading throughout the state.

Black bears have an estimated in-state population between 50 and 100.

Bobcats were common in the state until overhunting and loss of habitat drove them away in the mid-1800s, but sightings have become more frequent in recent years.

River otters, once gone entirely, now swim in Ohio streams again.

Cleveland Proves Conservation Works

The return of fishers and other extirpated species like otters, bobcats, and trumpeter swans are a result of conservation efforts and emphasize the importance of healthy forests, wetlands, waterways, and natural areas in Cleveland Metroparks.

Paul Mechling, an Ohio resident who discovered a fisher, said it best: The bald eagles have come back, the wild turkeys have come back, just a lot of things have come back, and the fishers are one of them.

A predator that vanished 200 years ago is now hunting squirrels in a Cleveland park. That is what happens when you give the land time to heal.

Explore Fisher Habitat at Cuyahoga Valley

Cuyahoga Valley National Park sits right next to Cleveland Metroparks and protects 33,000 acres of the same forested habitat where fishers now roam.

The park offers more than 125 miles of hiking trails through forests, wetlands, and river valleys. Admission is free year-round.

The Brandywine Falls and Blue Hen Falls trails are among the most popular.

Start at the Boston Mill Visitor Center at 6947 Riverview Road in Peninsula for maps and ranger advice. If you spot a fisher, report it to the Ohio Division of Wildlife through their online portal.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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