A 143-km Dispersal by a Female Fisher (Pekania pennantiI) from a University Campus to New Hampshire’s White Mountains

Remington J. Moll^1,*, Frankie J. Shinost Jr.¹, William K. Chrisman¹, Megan S. Munis², Andrew Timmins³, and David B. Needle²

¹Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. ²New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. ³New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Concord, NH 03301. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 33, Issue 1 (2026): N11–N22

First published early online: 19 February 2026

Abstract
Although Pekania pennanti (Fisher) are an important game species and play a key ecological role as mesocarnivores in the forests of the northeastern US, relatively few field studies have documented their dispersal or long-distance movements. We describe a long-distance dispersal (118 km straight line; 143 km path) of a juvenile female Fisher from the University of New Hampshire campus to the periphery of a small town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This movement occurred in February 2025 during periods of relatively deep snow, which is thought to diminish Fisher dispersal distances. We compare this observation to the literature and find it is, to our knowledge, the longest dispersal on record, although we suspect movements of this distance could occur with some frequency given Fishers’ vagility. We discuss the implications of this observation for regional Fisher populations.

Download Full-text pdf (Accessible only to subscribers. To subscribe click here.)