Environmental center sues feds over protected habitat for wolverines

(CN) — An environmental nonprofit sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Thursday after it passed a deadline to designate critical habitat for threatened wolverines, an iconic forest species protected in the lower 48 states of the U.S.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit in Montana federal court, claiming the Fish and Wildlife Service has hindered North American wolverine recovery by not securing protections for wolverine habitat, particularly in Mountain states such as Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

“In general, the Fish and Wildlife Service perpetually misses deadlines when it comes to listing species and designating critical habitat,” Andrea Zaccardi, the carnivore conservation program director at the Center for Biological Diversity said in an email to Courthouse News.

“The fact that the Trump administration has fired so many federal employees is probably not helping the agency in meeting deadlines,” she added.

Wolverines were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2023. In November 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not meet its deadline to designate critical habitat for the species.

https://www.courthousenews.com/environmental-center-sues-feds-over-protected-habitat-for-wolverines/