Feds pass on wolverine listing

[Feanorcurufinwe]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not consider federal protections for wolverines, citing a lack of information about the species.

Six conservation organizations in July 2000 petitioned the federal government to list the wolverine under the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states and to designate critical habitat.

Wildlife officials on Tuesday said the petition doesn't provide "substantial information" indicating that listing the wolverine as threatened or endangered may be warranted.

"Our first determination when we evaluate a petition is, basically, did the petitioners provide enough substantial information, and did we have substantial information in our files to indicate what they requested - in this case listing the wolverine - may be warranted," said Lori Nordstrom of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena.

Specifically, the agency said it found insufficient information in the petition and other current data to determine wolverine distribution, habitat requirements and whether there are threats to the species' continued existence.

"Basically, there just isn't hardly any information on wolverines, and there's a lot of unknowns," Nordstrom said. "We couldn't even very accurately draw a line around what we think the current range of wolverines is."
http://www.ravallinews.com/articles/2003/10/22/news/news06.txt

Apparently wolverines are too rare to be listed as endangered.... I saw one once, in my valley, two years ago...

[RememberTheCoup]

1. Too rare to be listed as endangered?

Wow. Kind of reminds me of how the UN declined to monitor U.S. elections because we don't meet even the basic requirements of free and fair elections.:crazy:

[demdave]

2. Wolverines smell bad, aren't real bright, generally are ugly

and have yet to get a real football team. :evilgrin:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Repeat what you said, bub

[SlavesandBulldozers]

3. by their logic

we should take any animal that is rare or extinct off of the endagered or extinct lists, because you dont see enough of them.

[freethought]

5. I hate to say it

but USFWS may be in the right. How canyou be sure if an animal is endangered, perhaps threatened, or by virtue of its ecology, rare.
I used to be involved in wildlife research some time ago, this much I do know. The wolverine has never been a common animal anywhere even though its range extends across the Northern hemisphere. It is very elusive and almost never seen. A single animal's territory may cover hundreds of square miles, and not being a large animal like a grizzly bear or moose, makes it near impossible to get a good study on it.

Some animals are rare due to the hand of man, I will not debate that point. But some animals are rare as a result of their ecology, in essence nature has planned for them to be rare. Surviving but rare none the less.

As far as the wolverine you may have seen, are you sure it wasn't something else like a fisher cat or martin?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. I have a feeling

that a Clinton-era FWS would have at least allowed a status review:

"It's disappointing that they were quick to discount the petition at this early stage in the process," said David Gaillard of the Bozeman-based Predator Conservation Alliance. "The basic decision was, 'there's not enough information to know that it's threatened; therefore, we're not going to list it for protection.' And the obvious concern is, well, if you don't know how well or poorly it's doing, then is it OK to assume it's doing fine?"

Gaillard said his group, with limited resources, made the best case it could for wolverine protections. Conservationists had hoped the agency would make an initial finding that listing may be warranted, followed by a year-long review of the wolverine's status that would be open to information submitted by various wildlife experts and agencies and a decision on whether listing is warranted.

"Unfortunately, we didn't even get the go-ahead for that status review," Gaillard said.
http://www.ravallinews.com/articles/2003/10/22/news/news06.txt

And yes, it was definately a wolverine I saw that one time, not a fisher (which I've never seen) or a marten (which I have seen).

PS. the wildlife population in my neighborhood is considerably larger than the human population...