Working to protect and conserve the LAST 300 North American Wolverine’s in the lower 48!!
In October 2025, Selkirk Conservation Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, Friends of the Clearwater & Inland Empire Task Force with the stellar aid of the Western Environmental Law Center submitted a 60-day Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue the U.S Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agencies’ Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation on how the Kaniksu Over Snow Vehicle Use Designation Project may affect the Threatened wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus).
Our attorney friends from WELC and WEG had many, many extreme hurdles they had to navigate to bring what we believe are the best, most winnable claims forth in this Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue the USFS. This includes some recent National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rulings that were not in our favor, the repealing, rescinding and or revising of the Roadless Rule as well as the yet to be unveiled changes to the definition of “Harm” within the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Some notables with this NOI is that it is challenging the Biological Opinion (BI-OP) that the feds recently released on the Wolverine. This NOI is not challenging the Kaniksu Over Snow Travel Plan recommendations, just the BI-OP for the Wolverine within the management area.
The quick and dirty of the BI-OP claims center around the agency only focusing on maternal denning habitat and only females with kits. This narrow focus also provides for a very narrow time frame for which the agency needs to manage these areas. The BI-OP excludes all impacts to wolverine primary habitat. The WELC & WEG attorneys think they can successfully challenge this.
The feds are bound by a legal standard in which they MUST APPLY the best available science and A LOT of great emerging science is coming out of the Selkirk’s and Idaho! New studies about the impacts of climate change and recreation on wolverine and other T& E species are very much in our favor. These are the two biggest threats to our snow loving T&E species.
Further, the team is working with some of the best wolverine experts/consultants around; Jeff Copelan, Rick Yates, & Kimberly Heinemeyer!
This case and decision will be very important for future conservation efforts and set an important precedent, the KEY is getting the science right!
As detailed in the full NOI (see below link) the Service’s biological opinion and related incidental take statement (“ITS”) for the Kaniksu project are arbitrary, fail to utilize the best available science, and violate the ESA. The Forest Service’s reliance on a faulty biological opinion and ITS also violates the ESA.\
UPDATE December 10th 2025 – RESPONSE FROM AGENCIES’
Consultation is going to be reinitiated on wolverine for the Kaniksu project which will presumably result in a new, BETTER BiOp for the wolverine
AND,
Until a new BiOp is issued, the Kaniksu OSV project is on hold. NO NEW OSV OPENINGS!
You can read the agencies responses HERE!