In agreement, feds say they’ll make a decision on wolverine listing

A host of environmental groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a settlement in a case involving wolverines in the Lower 48 states.

Under the settlement, the Service has agreed to make a final determination on whether to list the wolverine by Aug. 31 under the Endangered Species Act.

The Service back in 2013 proposed listing wolverines, but it was never finalized.

This latest agreement stems from a lawsuit that conservation organizations filed in March to prod the agency to determine the fate of wolverines after four years of delay. That delay followed a 2016 court ruling that directed the Service to take action on requests to grant legal protection to the wolverine “at the earliest possible, defensible moment in time,” stressing that “[f]or the wolverine, that time is now.”

There are fewer than 300 wolverines left in the contiguous United States. The animals are threatened by climate change, which reduces the spring snowpack they need for denning, and habitat loss caused by snowmobiles, roads and other development, environmental groups claim.

Montana used to have a trapping season for wolverines with a very limited quota, but it has since been closed.

Wolverines den under deep snows. Of the 300 estimated to live in the Lower 48, about 50 are estimated to live in Glacier National Park, previous studies have found.

Protection under the Endangered Species Act would trigger new conservation efforts for wolverines.

“Recent scientific information has underscored that wolverines face threats from trapping, disruption of their winter range, and – most of all – destruction of their snowy habitat due to climate change,” said Tim Preso, Earthjustice attorney, who represented the conservation groups in the lawsuit. “It is past time for the government to take action to preserve this iconic species.”

The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Clearwater, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Rocky Mountain Wild.