U.S. – A lawsuit filed by more than 15 conservation organizations, spanning well beyond the borders of the Treasure State, says that the federal government has stalled in its plans to save wolverines, and asks a court to compel the United States Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lay out specific plans to protect the threatened species’ habitat, the first part of the conservation project.
Biologists and conservation organizations have long lobbied scientists and politicians to place the wolverine on the Endangered Species List, as a “threatened species,” a designation that focuses on a species’ habitat and ranges. The Biden administration did that in February 2023. After an animal or plant is placed on the list, federal law allows the government a year to determine its range — the places that need to be protected and given special consideration in order to stop further losses. The federal government may extend that time by one year, if it needs, according to the lawsuit.
However, more than two years have passed and the conservation organizations say that the federal government is violating its own laws by not moving forward on the process, even as the Trump administration looks to remove protections for other species, like grizzly bears and gray wolves.
“The service has yet to initiate the process of designating critical habitat for wolverines,” the lawsuit said. “The service is not actively working on a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for wolverines.”
The lawsuit said that organizations included in the lawsuit have been commenting, and reminding the federal government, about the deadline. Now, they say the courts have the power to act and compel the federal government to begin the process.
“The (FWS) determined wolverine warranted listing under the ESA, primarily due to ongoing and increasing impacts of climate change and associated habitat degradation and fragmentation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said science proves wolverines need the snow of high elevations in order to den and rear their kits. Those areas are being impacted by both climate change and more human encroachment, the lawsuit states.
FWS estimates that 50 wolverines occupy the Idaho/Montana linkage area and 63 are in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, as of Nov. 2023. Furthermore, it estimated just a few more than 200 wolverines in the Lower 48 states beyond those in and around Montana’s ranges.
“Wolverine populations, though widespread, were relatively small, fragmented and isolated from larger populations in Canada,” the lawsuit said.
The groups say that the Service has not been able to provide any documentation that process has even begun, now more than two years after the designation.
“Wolverines are just hanging on—down to roughly 300 individuals. They deserve and desperately need all the protections guaranteed by law after being recognized as threatened, including critical habitat” said Matthew Bishop, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Having areas set aside as critical habitat is a major—if not the most important—factor in helping threatened and endangered wildlife recover. Given wolverines’ small population size and climate change quickly shrinking the snowy habitat they rely on to survive, time is of the essence.”
The groups who are suing the federal government include: Friends of the Bitterroot, WildEarth Guardians, Friends of the Wild Swan, Swan View Coalition, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, George Wuerthner (as an individual), Footloose Montana, Native Ecosystems Council, Helena Hunters and Anglers Association, Wilderness Watch, Trap Free Montana, and Friends of the Clearwater.
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