January 7, 2011
As reported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on December 13, 2010 the wolverine was listed as a “candidate species” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). When a species is placed on the candidate species list, the USFWS acknowledges that it may eventually need to be to listed as threatened or endangered, but the available information about the species’ status does not yet warrant a full listing. Each year the species on the candidate list are the focus of a new assessment to determine if there has been any known changes in the species’ situation.
In the Sierra Nevada, the rare wolverine has been considered to be extinct across the majority of its range, although occasional reported sightings shared with CSERC staff or reported to agency biologists lead to the possibility that scattered populations may persist. A wolverine was photographed at two different locations north of Tahoe over a two-year period in recent years, but genetic tests of hairs found at the sight proved that the wolverine was not a native of the region. How it was introduced or arrived is unknown.
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Photo by Peggy Sells
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Intensive hunting and trapping across most of its range was the primary cause for its initial decline, while in recent decades, disturbance by people may have caused it to move to remote areas that are marginal for its survival. Climate change trends have also depleted the deep snowpack that the wolverine relies upon for digging dens to give birth and to hide its young until they are large enough to resist predators.
CSERC staff has not gained adequate funding to do a desired level of photo-detection surveys for the wolverine across most of the suitable habitat in the Northern Yosemite region where the wolverine is likely to persist. Some surveys over recent years have been done in the Red Rock Meadow – Relief Reservoir area and other high elevation areas, but no wolverines have been detected.
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