[MCN] RELEASE: Court again forces feds to reconsider wolverine protections, this time using science

[Matthew Koehler]

For release: Thursday, May 26, 2022



*Contacts:       *

Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-422-9866,
bishop at westernlaw.org

Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, 503-327-4923 bethany at cascwild.org

Mike Garrity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, 406-459-5936,
wildrockies at gmail.com

Sarah McMillan, WildEarth Guardians, 406-549-3895,
smcmillan at wildearthguardians.org



*Court again forces feds to reconsider wolverine protections, this time
using science*

*"**Wolverines are trapped on the merry-go-round of extinction and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service needs to put them on the path toward recovery."*



MISSOULA, MONTANA—Today, a federal judge invalidated
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022.05.26-Wolverine-Remand-With-Vacatur.pdf>
a
Trump administration decision
<https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/2020/10082020-Science-Shows-Wolverines-in-the-Contiguous-US-Are-Healthy.php>
denying
protections to imperiled wolverines under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
(original complaint here
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020.12.14-Wolverine-Complaint.pdf>).
This is the second time a court has rejected a U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service decision to deny protections for wolverines, which number only
about 300 in the contiguous U.S. Today’s court order immediately reinstates
wolverines’ “candidate” status as a species proposed for listing.



“We are hoping this time is the charm and the Fish and Wildlife Service
will follow the courts’ directives to rely on the best available climate
science to make the right call to protect wolverines in the lower 48
states,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental
Law Center. “With climate change quickly shrinking the snowy habitat
wolverines rely on to survive, there is no time for politics and further
delays.”



The groups in today’s court victory defeated the Service in court in 2016
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016.04.04-Wolverine%20ESA%20Final%20Decision.pdf>,
forcing the agency back to the drawing board with a directive to apply the
best science. Four years later, the Service returned with the same decision
to deny wolverine protective status, despite no new scientific support for
such a determination.



"The science and the law could not be more clear: Wolverine are deserving
of the protections of the Endangered Species Act," said Bethany Cotton,
conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands. "It's long past time for the
Fish and Wildlife Service to do its job and afford this iconic
climate-impacted species with the best safeguards available."



Wolverine rely on snow year-round. With their large paws, wolverine can
travel easily over snow, and often rely on deep snow for hunting and for
denning and rearing of young. Snow is also a “freezer” that permits the
wolverine to store and scavenge food. One study found 98% of all wolverine
den sites in places with persistent late spring snowpack.



“I hope the Biden administration will now quit defending the Trump
administration decision that wolverines do not deserve to be protected from
extinction now that a federal district court has now ruled that it was
illegal,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the
Wild Rockies. "We need to work toward keeping wolverines from going extinct
instead of continuing to drive them to extinction."



“Wolverines are trapped on the merry-go-round of extinction and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service needs to put them on the path toward recovery by
protecting them under the Endangered Species Act,” said Sarah McMillan,
WildEarth Guardians’ senior advisor based in Missoula, Montana. “It’s
profoundly disappointing that as the extinction crisis escalates, the Biden
administration has chosen to defend the Trump administration, rather than
this climate-imperiled species.”



“The wolverine is dependent on snow for its survival is the canary in the
coal mine with regards to climate change,” said ecologist George Wuerthner.
“If the wolverine can no longer survive in the lower 48 states, it
indicates that we are not doing enough to halt and reverse global warming.”



The victorious organizations include WildEarth Guardians, Friends Of The
Bitterroot, Friends Of The Wild Swan, Swan View Coalition, Oregon Wild,
Cascadia Wildlands, Alliance For The Wild Rockies, Cottonwood Environmental
Law Center, George Wuerthner, Footloose Montana, Native Ecosystems Council,
Wildlands Network, Helena Hunters and Anglers Association. They were
represented by attorneys with the Western Environmental law Center.



*Background: *Wolverines number just 250-300 individuals in the contiguous
U.S. and are dependent on high elevation habitat with deep winter snows.
Imperiled by climate change, habitat loss, small population size and
trapping, wolverines were first petitioned for Endangered Species Act
protections in 2000. The Service found the petition did not contain
adequate information to justify a listing. A federal court overturned that
decision in 2006. The Service then issued a negative 12-month finding in
2008, which was challenged in court resulting in a settlement that led to a
new finding that wolverines should be protected under the ESA, but that
other priorities precluded the listing at that time. A landmark settlement,
which resolved the backlog of imperiled species awaiting protections, then
guaranteed a new finding for wolverines. In February 2013, the Service
proposed listing the wolverine as “threatened” under the ESA. In August
2014, however, the Service reversed course and issued a decision not to
list the species, contradicting its own expert scientists’ recommendations.
In April, 2016 the court overturned the Service’s decision not to list,
reinstating wolverines’ status as a candidate species and requiring a new
final rule. In October 2020, the Service again decided not to list. The
groups in today’s victory filed their challenge
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020.12.14-Wolverine-Complaint.pdf>
in
December 2020.



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