Unlike the gray wolf (Canis lupus), Colorado voters did not approve the reintroduction of the North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus);. state lawmakers did. In late April, the Senate vote was 29-5 in favor of SB 24-171. In early May, the House followed suit with a 51-13 vote. The bill was sponsored by Republican Sen. Perry Will (SD-05) who told The Sopris Sun that he was asked by conservation groups and the state Department of Natural Resources to get on board.
The bill is the result of decades of work to bring the animal back to the state. But, it all started with the Canada lynx. “Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) first identified a need to reintroduce wolverines back in 1998 at the same time that they identified a need to reintroduce Canada lynx,” said Megan Mueller, conservation biologist with Rocky Mountain Wild. At the time, she told The Sopris Sun, CPW did not have the resources to do both reintroductions simultaneously. “So, they decided to reintroduce Canada lynx first,” she explained.
In 2010, the reintroduction of the Canada lynx was declared a success, and CPW got going on wolverines. The agency started talking to stakeholders like livestock growers, anglers, conservation groups and the ski industry to set up a reintroduction plan. But, according to CPW, that was put on hold because the wolverine was not listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
To list or not to list
In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed listing the North American wolverine in the contiguous U.S. as threatened under the ESA but reversed course the following year. In 2020, under the Trump administration, the agency determined that a listing was unnecessary. A coalition of conservation groups filed suit, stating that climate change could impact the wolverine’s viability. In 2022, a district court judge in Montana agreed and required Gulo gulo luscus to be reconsidered for listing.
In September 2023, FWS updated the assessment that led to the 2020 decision with information on climate change, habitat connectivity, trapping, snow, population density, and, according to the FWS website, considered changing how the animal would be managed. Two months later, the wolverine was listed as a threatened species due to climate change.
10j Rule
The ESA listing opened the door to the Section 10j rule process to declare wolverines an experimental, non-essential population in Colorado. “It’s intended to facilitate reintroduction,” explained Mueller. “That’s the whole purpose of 10J rules. But, wolverines will still be protected under the ESA from any activities that are really going to threaten them.”
The 10j rule was a big deal last year just before gray wolves landed in Colorado. The draft gray wolf 10j rule was released Sept. 15, just a few months before the Dec. 31 deadline for paws on the ground. Its purpose was mainly to allow for the use of lethal control methods. Since the gray wolf is an endangered species under the ESA, a 10j, which downlists the animal to threatened, non-essential, experimental status, had to be in place before wolves were established in Colorado or lethal control — in all cases except self-defense — would remain illegal.
It’s the same idea for the wolverines but not for the same reasons. The FWS website states that the 10j for wolverines “provides for allowable legal incidental taking of the wolverine” within the defined non-essential population area of the Southern Rockies of Colorado, northern New Mexico, and southern Wyoming. “The 10j alleviates any landowner concerns,” said Perry Will. “It allows you to still do those kinds of things you do on the landscape without the species interfering.”
Take ski areas, for example. “Let’s say a ski area wants to repair an existing lift that’s already [in use] every day,” said Mueller. “Wolverines are not going to be in the middle of a busy ski area when that’s getting constructed so the 10j could give an exception for the permitting process for that and, at the same time, still require the ski industry to go through [the permitting process] if they wanted to do a major expansion into wolverine habitat.”
Will added that even though livestock predation is not an issue with wolverines, the 10j is there just in case. “They pretty much eat carrion,” he said. “I guess if you’re a whistle pig in the rocks up there, you might get a little concerned. But other than that, there just really aren’t any issues with it.”
Next steps
Will and Mueller predict about two years before reintroduced wolverines are wandering the state. During the 10j process, CPW will craft a technical plan much like the wolf reintroduction and management plan. “Once those two things are in place, [CPW] is also going to create a communications plan about where they’ll be released and when,” explained Mueller. “Then, on the really off chance that a wolverine does prey on a sheep, there’ll be a fund for compensation.” After that, CPW will go find some wolverines to bring home.
Will said he’s proud of SB 24-171. “I championed that bill all the way through and I took a lot of grief for it because it was on the heels of the wolf reintroduction,” he said. “But I wanted to show the governor and the state that there’s a right way to do something and this was the right way.”