Protecting Diversity

The fisher is but one eukaryotic species whose existence in Washington has been threatened by human actions. The gray wolf and spotted owl are two others. Next to hunting, habitat loss poses the biggest threat to wildlife. Between the 1930s and the early 1990s, the total area of old-growth forest in Washington State was slashed by approximately 70%—down to 3 million acres from more than 9 million—most of it used for lumber. Much of the remaining forest habitat—what is not protected by Olympic National Park—is fragmented by highways, power lines, railroads, and residential development, leaving no place for many species to call home.

The challenges facing Washington are not unique. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that the total global area covered by forests shrank by 23 million acres a year during the 1990s—most of it cleared for agriculture. Some experts estimate that only half the acreage of the planet’s original rain forest remains.

Forests are only one place biodiversity is in danger. Habitat destruction in ecosystems around the globe—wetlands, ice caps, coral reefs—poses a grave threat to countless species. If current rates of habitat destruction continue, we may witness levels of extinction rivaling the greatest extinction events of geological history. Can anything be done to reverse the trend of dwindling biodiversity around the globe?

Though the rapidly expanding human population (see Chapter 24) is gobbling up resources faster than Earth can restore them, there are things we can do to mitigate the destruction. One conservation strategy is to protect those areas that are known to be especially diverse (called “hot spots”), ensuring that they remain so. That means safeguarding habitat and forbidding overhunting. Where possible, it also means taking efforts to restore missing diversity, in an effort to keep ecosystems whole. “We have an obligation to try to keep an ecosystem intact if we can,” says Lewis, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, noting that the best way to protect the environment may be to keep all of its parts in place.

For the fishers, at least, things seem to be looking up. They are dispersing and reproducing in the forest–at least seven females so far have had kits–and park manager Happe says she is “guardedly optimistic” about their chance of survival. Over the next few years, Happe and Lewis will continue to monitor the fishers, which have been equipped with radio collars, to make sure they are adapting to and surviving in their new home. Only then will they be able to label the restoration project a success. Fishers may have returned to the forest, says Happe, but “they’re not out of the woods.”