California mammals

Fisher in California

Pekania pennanti

Native to California S2 Imperiled in California

Not listed as nonindigenous in California by USGS NAS; native to its California range.

IUCN Red List status

NE – Not Evaluated

Not yet assessed against IUCN Red List criteria.

Martes PennantiLive fisher clambering head-down on a tree trunk in summer foliageFisher (Pekania pennanti)
Photo: Matthew Zalewski · CC BY-SA 4.0Martes PennantiPhoto: christine123 · CC BY 4.0Live fisher clambering head-down on a tree trunk in summer foliagePhoto: David Weisenbeck · CC BY 4.0Fisher (Pekania pennanti)

Fisher in California, by the numbers

Occasional in California 143rd most recorded of 241 mammals logged in California

137 occurrence records
98 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the Fisher in California

Most sightings fall in January to February.

137 California occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly California records (table)
MonthRecords
January17
February22
March10
April12
May8
June6
July7
August6
September10
October20
November6
December13

Monthly fisher occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in California, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in California, with recorded sightings peaking in January–February, with a smaller rise in October.

Occurrence map

Where Fisher has been recorded in California

137 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

137 California records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Yosemite National Park 16
Redwood National Park 2
Sequoia National Park 2
Giant Sequoia National Monument 2
Shasta National Forest 1
Trinity National Forest 1
Trinity Alps Wilderness 1
Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area 1

Protected places with the most fisher sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in California

CountyRecords
Siskiyou County 33
Humboldt County 27
Mariposa County 15
Shasta County 10
Mendocino County 9
Trinity County 8
Tulare County 8
Del Norte County 6
Tuolumne County 6
Glenn County 5
Lake County 3
Fresno County 2
3 other counties 5

The complete county distribution, spread across 15 California counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Fisher records follow California’s cooler uplands and forests more closely than the hot Central Valley floor. The Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, and Coast Ranges aren’t interchangeable: snow, summer moisture, tree cover, and elevation shape where reports appear.

Road access and popular trails make some mountain belts much better documented than remote forest. A dense group of reports can identify a well-watched area, but it doesn’t prove that the species is more numerous there.

The 137-record calendar has several modest rises rather than one dominant season, with February and October highest in the supplied monthly series. NatureServe ranks fisher S2, imperiled, in California; that assessment describes conservation status, while the report totals describe documentation effort and cannot be read as animal numbers.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Fisher in other states

Martes Pennanti
Full species profile Fisher Pekania pennanti Size 75–95 cm2.5–3.1 ft Weight 3.5–6 kg7.7–13.2 lb Lifespan 7 yr View the full profile

More mammals in California in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"