No critter exemplifies our nation’s wilderness heritage more than the tenacious and beautiful wolverine. Wolverines are among the most wilderness-dependent mammals in the lower 48 states, persisting only in remote, high-elevation landscapes with deep snow and minimal human disturbance. Many of these strongholds overlap with designated Wilderness across the western United States—where natural processes still dominate.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dragged its feet for years before finally granting the wolverine desperately-needed Endangered Species Act protection in 2023.
The law required the agency to designate critical habitat within a year of that 2023 listing, but the Fish and Wildlife Service has dragged its feet and failed to designate critical habitat—even though only about 300 wolverines remain in the Lower 48 states.
On January 14, 2026, Wilderness Watch and our allies filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Montana against the agency to secure the critical habitat—including in Wilderness—that threatened wolverines deserve and desperately need to fend off extinction.
Scientific studies show critical habitat designation is key to the recovery of imperiled species like the wolverine. As such, in the Endangered Species Act, Congress directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide a “means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved,” with explicit deadline requirements to do so.
Our litigation seeks to ensure that the wolverine’s most important wild habitats are protected via a court-ordered, agreed-upon deadline. Designating and protecting wolverine critical habitat throughout their range is essential to both wolverine and wilderness preservation.
Joining Wilderness Watch on this lawsuit are Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Wild Swan, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, WildEarth Guardians, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Footloose Montana, Native Ecosystems Council, George Wuerthner, Hellgate Hunters and Anglers Association, Trap Free Montana, and Friends of the Clearwater. Our coalition is represented by the Western Environmental Law Center.
This lawsuit is just another example of how wilderness protection and imperiled wildlife protection go hand-in-hand. Wilderness areas across the Rocky Mountains and Cascades need thriving wolverine populations to truly be wild.
We are incredibly grateful for your generous support, which makes all this work possible. Thank you!
Photo: Wolverine by Howie Wolke
