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Judge restores protections for wolverines in Montana and beyond – Daily Montanan

['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- May']

Date: 2022-05-31 00:00:00

A federal court judge restored protections for wolverines in Montana and throughout the West, ruling that rarely seen predators need additional protection while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsiders its decision not to identify the species as threatened or endangered.

Facing lawsuits from multiple groups, the Fish and Wildlife Service voluntarily decided to reconsider its 2020 decision not to protect wolverines, but had argued in front of Judge Donald Molloy that as it was rethinking its position on them, additional protections, which were in place previously, were unnecessary. Molloy disagreed and restored the protections and ordered the agency to make its decision within 18 months.

“Wolverines desperately needed this good news, but it’s time to follow the science and finally grant them the full life-saving protections of the Endangered Species Act,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit. “With wolverines facing dire threats like climate change and habitat loss, the Fish and Wildlife Service can’t waste any more time.”

This means the wolverine will be returned as a “candidate” for the Endangered Species Act.

Wolverines rely on snow year-round. They use their paws as snowshoes and can travel over it, relying on deep snow for hunting, making dens and raising young. They also use snow like a freezer to store food. There are about 250 to 300 wolverines in the wild in the United States, according to information by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

It is the second time the groups had to fight the Fish and Wildlife Service in court. Wolverines were given “candidate” status prior to 2016, but then the Donald J. Trump administration denied the status, and along with it, some of the protections. Groups sued then and won in court, forcing the agency to reconsider its decision based on the science. When the agency returned with the same answer in 2020, a coalition fought the decision.

Molloy’s ruling seemed to vindicate the fight.

“It is troubling that the scientific studies that the agency now contends warrant further review existed at the same time the Service made its 2020 decision but were not considered,” Molloy said.

The court also said that restoring protections for the wolverine is critical because of the number of forest plans throughout the West that could be impacted by wolverine, including that the state of Idaho had objected, because “the proposed listing will interfere with its management plans.”

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