Fish and Wildlife Service to list species as threatened following decades of litigation  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 29, 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will protect the wolverine  population in the lower 48 states as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a decision that will  provide this rare wilderness species with new legal protections and programs for recovery.  

The decision represents the culmination of a campaign by conservationists over decades that required  six rounds of successful litigation to secure federal protections. Most recently, conservation groups  succeeded in 2022 in persuading a federal judge to vacate a 2020 decision by the service denying ESA  protections for wolverines in the lower 48 states. That victory sent the agency back to the drawing  board to reconsider its determination and set the stage for today’s listing decision.  

“This long-awaited decision gives the wolverine a fighting chance at survival,” said Timothy Preso, an  Earthjustice attorney who represented conservation groups in the long-running legal campaign to  protect the wolverine. “There is now hope for this icon of our remaining wilderness.”  

Conservation groups originally petitioned to list the wolverine as threatened under the act in 1994 and  again in 2000. For decades, the service repeatedly delayed and obstructed the proposed wolverine  listing, forcing wolverine advocates to turn to the courts for enforcement of the act. Earthjustice and the  groups it represents won every case they filed on behalf of the wolverine, either through judicial rulings  in their favor or through favorable settlement agreements.  

“The court’s decision today gives a boost to struggling wolverines across the west,” said Dave Werntz,  senior science and conservation director at Conservation Northwest. “The future for wolverines in the  North Cascades and elsewhere is now much brighter.” 

“The science is clear: snowpack-dependent species like the wolverine are facing an increasingly  uncertain future under a warming climate,” said Michael Saul, Defenders of Wildlife Rockies and plains  program director. “The protections that come with Endangered Species Act listing increase the chance  that our children will continue to share the mountains with these elusive and fascinating carnivores.  Now it’s time to support the species’ future by bringing them back to the mountains of Colorado as  well.” 

Today’s decision provides the wolverine and its remaining habitat with additional protections to ensure  its best chance for survival. The wolverine, the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family, is  threatened with massive habitat loss due to climate change. Wolverines depend on areas with deep  snow through late spring. Pregnant females dig their dens into this snowpack to birth and raise their  young. Scientists estimate that no more than 300 wolverines remain in the lower 48 states.  

“I’m thrilled that the Fish and Wildlife Service finally followed the science and granted wolverines the  federal protections they need to survive and recover,” said Andrea Zaccardi, the Center for Biological  Diversity’s carnivore conservation legal director. “Like so many other species, wolverines waited far too  long for federal protections, but I’m overjoyed that they’re finally on the path to recovery.” 

“Today’s decision makes it clear that we need to protect wolverines from climate change. The best way  to do that is to bring wolverines back to Colorado. As the climate changes, Colorado’s high elevation  mountains are expected to stay snowier and colder than other places where wolverines live,” said  Megan Mueller, conservation biologist for Rocky Mountain Wild. “We need to act now to restore  wolverines to Colorado to give them a refuge from climate change.” 

Wolverines once roamed across the northern tier of the United States and as far south as New Mexico in  the Rockies and Southern California in the Sierra Nevada range. After more than a century of trapping  and habitat loss, wolverines in the lower 48 today exist only as small, fragmented populations in Idaho,  Montana, Washington, Wyoming, and northeast Oregon.  

Wolverine populations are also at risk from traps, human disturbance, habitat fragmentation, and  extremely low population numbers resulting in low genetic diversity. Conservation groups have warned  that without new conservation efforts the dangers faced by wolverines threaten remaining populations  with localized extinctions and inbreeding.  

“Wolverines have been completely driven out of the Klamath Mountains where they once roamed, this  is an important step to ensure that they are not driven off the planet,” said George Sexton,  conservation director for Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. 

“Biologists estimate a loss of more than 40% of suitable wolverine habitat in Idaho by 2060 if we fail to  act,” said Brad Smith, North Idaho director for the Idaho Conservation League. “This decision allows us  to move forward on recovery actions to prevent such extensive loss of wolverine habitat and recover  wolverine populations.”

“With only a few hundred remaining in the entire lower 48 states, Endangered Species Act protections  are critical to recovering the wolverine,” said Bonnie Rice, national wildlife campaign manager for  Sierra Club. “Today's court decision gives this amazing, snow-dependent species a long-overdue lifeline  in the face of massive habitat loss due to climate change.”  

Earthjustice represented a broad coalition of conservation groups in the most recent suit to protect the  wolverine — the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends  of the Clearwater, Idaho Conservation League, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou  Wildlands Center, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Sierra Club, and Rocky Mountain Wild.