State Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Return Wolverines To Colorado
A bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers are proposing legislation to reintroduce wolverines, one of the country’s rarest carnivores, into a state primed with deep snow and high mountains. The unprecedented move would be the first wolverine reintroduction in North America, and is part of an ongoing effort by Coloradans to restore the state’s native species.
Restoring wolverines to the Centennial state could provide the threatened species with a buffer population at a time when the US Fish and Wildlife Service says wolverines’ low numbers face threats from climate change and habitat fragmentation. Conservationists and state biologists have long pushed for the reintroduction, saying Colorado has plenty of unoccupied habitat and could support as many as 100 or even 180 wolverines, dramatically increasing the species’ North American population. The bill was introduced this week, and has attracted support from lawmakers and scientists alike. “I think this gives us the best chance of restoring the population to Colorado,” says Jake Ivan, a wildlife research scientist with Colorado parks and wildlife.
Wolverines are one of the largest members of the mustelid family and are known for small populations, big home ranges, and an apparent elusiveness that lends itself to human myths and storytelling. The Colorado proposal is part of a wolverine comeback after the species was largely trapped and poisoned out of the continental US a century ago.
Wolverines have since recolonized isolated portions of Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming with rare sightings in Oregon, Utah and even California. The only Colorado sighting in recent memory was more than a decade ago, when a wolverine called M56 wandered south from Wyoming’s Grand Tetons and spent years in Rocky Mountain national park before trekking to North Dakota, where it was shot and killed. While Colorado’s reintroduction of wolverines looks more hopeful than it did a couple years ago, it’s far from certain. The species received threatened species protection from the Fish and Wildlife Service in November over concerns related to climate change, and according to the Colorado bill, any reintroduction would require the Service to create what’s called a 10(j)rule classifying it as a non-essential, experimental population.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/09/colorado-legislation-reintroduce-wolverines