WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Wednesday that wolverines will be protected under the Endangered Species Act as their population has been threatened for decades.
“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.”
The lower 48 states will provide wolverines with legal protections and programs for recovery.
Conservation groups originally petitioned to list wolverines as threatened under the act in 1994 and again in 2000. For decades this was delayed and forced wolverine advocates to turn to the courts for enforcement of the act.
“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.”
Scientists estimate that no more than 300 wolverines remain in the lower 48 states. They are the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family and are threatened with massive habitat loss due to climate change.
Wolverines depend on areas with deep snow through late spring, especially pregnant females who dig their dens into snowpack to give birth and raise their young.
“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.”
Wolverines once lived across the northern tier of the U.S. and as far south as New Mexico, southern California and Sierra Nevada range. Now the small population left live in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming and Oregon.
The last 300 wolverines are threatened from traps, human disturbance, habitat fragmentation and extremely low population numbers resulting in low genetic diversity.
“Biologists estimate a loss of more than 40% of suitable wolverine habitat in Idaho by 2060 if we fail to act,” said Jeff Abrams, wildlife program associate 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.”
Conservation groups will continue working to protect the wolverines and hopefully grow their population.
