Because the fisher cannot fly over logged areas, it is many ways more sensitive to logging of old forests than the spotted owl, which has been at the center of controversy over forest management for more than a decade. Endangered status for the fisher requires protection for old-growth forests, benefiting the entire ecosystem. It would also provide additional funding for research and boost efforts to reintroduce the fisher into parts of its range where it no longer occurs, such as in Washington State, where a reintroduction effort is already in the planning stages. The fisher has a long, slender body with short legs. Its head is triangular, with a sharp, pronounced muzzle and large, rounded ears.
Fishers are mostly brown, with a long bushy tail.
Males range up to 47 inches in length, while females typically only reach 37 inches. Fishers run in a bounding gait, with their front feet leaping forward together, followed by the back feet. Unlike other carnivores, such as cats and dogs, fishers walk on their whole foot. Contrary to its name, the fisher does not eat fish. The name probably relates to a poor translation of the name for the European polecat, which is a relative of the fisher and is called the fitch ferret, fichet or fitche.