Feds propose threatened status for wolverines

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week proposed listing wolverines as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. FWS also proposed creating a “nonessential population” of wolverines in the southern Rocky Mountains, most likely in Colorado.

The listing would end trapping of wolverines in Montana, which had allowed trapping up to five animals a year. Since 2008, an average of three wolverines have been harvested annually, according to FWP figures. Once listed under the Endangered Species Act, trapping, shooting and other taking would not be allowed.

“We know, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged, that Montana is a stronghold for wolverines and wolverine habitat,” Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks director Jeff Hagener said about the decision. “It’s our understanding that FWS commended Montana’s wolverine management as a tightly regulated furbearer species, and that FWP has taken great care to ensure the wolverine harvest wouldn’t impact any particular geographic area.”

FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim said FWP hadn’t taken a position yet on whether it would challenge the trapping portion of the rule. FWP needs to review the entire rule first, he said.

“Our primary concern is to maintain the authority and ability to manage Montana’s wildlife,” Hagener said. “No matter what the ultimate decision turns out to be, Montana will make a strong case to maintain authority to manage its wildlife, including the ability to trap other species, like wolves, that may sometimes share habitat with the wolverine.”

Challenge or not, wolverine trapping will remain closed for the foreseeable future. In December, in lieu of a federal decision on the wolverine’s federal status, a state district court judge in Helena granted a temporary restraining order that blocked the opening of Montana’s 2012-13 wolverine trapping season.

The proposal resulted after more than a decade of persistent pressure from conservation and environmental groups, including three separate legal actions filed over the past 10 years.

“This proposal at long last gives the wolverine a fighting chance at survival in the Lower 48 states,” Earthjustice attorney Timothy Preso said. “The most immediate need is to stop the threats to the species that we can control, including direct killing of wolverines through trapping.”

FWS officials say they won’t reintroduce wolverines in Colorado but will allow the state to do so. At least one male wolverine lives in Colorado — a migrant that may have traveled more than 560 miles from northwestern Wyoming to Rocky Mountain National Park.

In Montana, the largest threat to wolverines is climate change and global warming, according to FWS. Suitable wolverine habitat is expected to shrink about 31 percent over the next 30 years and about 63 percent over the next 75 years.

Wolverines need deep persistent snows, more than five feet deep, to raise their young. They den in woody debris and downfalls at high elevations where snows remain deep well into spring. As regions warm and snowpacks shrink, however, less suitable habitat remains. Wolverines rarely or never den at low elevations, studies have found.

FWS does not expect to see recreational uses in mountain terrain impacted by the listing.

“Dispersed recreation like snowmobiling and backcountry skiing and warm season activities like backpacking and hunting occur over larger scales; however, there is little evidence to suggest these activities may affect wolverines significantly,” FWS said.

The listing also is not expected to have an impact on timber harvest, wildland firefighting, prescribed burns and similar land management.