<P> Fishers also select for forest floors with large amounts of coarse woody debris . In western forests, where fire regularly removes understory debris, fishers show a preference for riparian woodland habitat . Fishers tend to avoid areas with deep snow . Habitat is also affected by snow compaction and moisture content . </P> <P> Fishers are widespread throughout the northern forests of North America . They are found from Nova Scotia in the east to the Pacific shore of British Columbia and Alaska . They can be found as far north as Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories and as far south as the mountains of Oregon . Isolated populations occur in the Sierra Nevada of California and the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia . </P> <P> In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fishers were virtually eliminated from the southern and eastern parts of their range, including most American states and eastern Canada including Nova Scotia . Overtrapping and loss of forest habitat were the reasons for the decline . </P> <P> Most states had placed restrictions on fisher trapping by the 1930s, coincidental with the end of the logging boom . A combination of forest regrowth in abandoned farmlands and improved forest management practices increased available habitat and allowed remnant populations to recover . Populations have since recovered sufficiently that the species is no longer endangered . Increasing forest cover in eastern North America means that fisher populations will remain sufficiently robust for the near future . Between 1955 and 1985, some states had allowed limited trapping to resume . In areas where fishers were eliminated, porcupine populations subsequently increased . Areas with a high density of porcupines were found to have extensive damage to timber crops . In these cases, fishers were reintroduced by releasing adults relocated from other places into the forest . Once the fisher populations became re-established, porcupine numbers returned to natural levels . In Washington, fisher sightings were reported into the 1980s, but an extensive survey in the 1990s did not locate any . </P>

What kind of sound does a fisher make