Rocky Mountain National Park<\/a> in Colorado.<\/p>\nIn 2014 another wolverine was captured on a trail camera in Utah\u2019s Uinta Mountains.<\/p>\n
It is important to note these were lone males moving into habitat that lacked females. The FWS used these long-distance dispersals to argue genetic isolation wasn\u2019t a problem.<\/p>\n
In its 2020 decision to withdraw the wolverine from the ESA listing, the FWS used all the above rationale to justify its position.<\/p>\n
However, according to the ESA, a species can be considered \u201cdistinct\u201d if there are physical barriers or management differences across International Borders. There is limited movement of US animals into Canada, in part, due to the presence of major trans Canadian transportation corridors (railroads, Trans Canadian Highway, Highway 3 along the US border, as well, trapping is permitted in Canada.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs are arguing the FWS did not use the best available science to withdraw its recommendation for Distinct Population Segment and failed to adequately analyze the cumulative threats posed by climate change, increasing winter recreation, incidental trapping, small population size, fragmented habitat, and low genetic diversity.<\/p>\n
The science supports the listing of the wolverine. Climate change may be the most significant long-term threat, but political opposition is the wolverines most immediate threat.<\/p>\n
The best attorneys lead both lawsuits in the northern Rockies. Matt Bishop of the Western Environmental Law Center represents Cascadia Wildlands Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Wild Swan Helena Hunters and Anglers Association, Footloose Montana, Swan View Coalition, Native Ecosystems Council, Wildlands Network, Oregon Wild and George Wuerthner.<\/p>\n
Tim Preso of Earthjustice is leading a second lawsuit representing a broad coalition of conservation groups \u2014 the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Clearwater, Idaho Conservation League, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Sierra Club and Rocky Mountain Wild.<\/p>\n\n
This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wolverine. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service. On December 14, 2020, 24 organizations and one individual (me) filed two different lawsuits to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3220,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions\/3220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}