NEWSLETTER

WILDLIFE IN THE NEWS

WOLVERINES GET LISTED AS THREATENED UNDER THE ESA

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) just issued a final rule listing wolverines in the lower 48 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

This decision has been a very long time coming, and is the result of the stalwart dedication of many nonprofit wildlife organizations who demanded that the USFWS examine the science again.

The wolverine population has plummeted due to climate change, overharvesting, and habitat fragmentation. Though they once roamed as far south as New Mexico and as far east as the Great Lakes, now fewer than 300 wolverines survive in pockets of the Cascades and Rocky Mountains.

Unfortunately, the final ruling will likely include loopholes such as the death of wolverines in traps set for other species.

You can read more about the decision here.

Photo by Kristin O Karlsen on Unsplash

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

GRAY WOLVES

A lot of exciting things have been happening with wolves lately. Five wolves were released in Colorado late last year, the first wolves to live in that state since they were eradicated eighty years ago.

And a lone wolf, likely dispersed from the Shasta Lake pack in California, was spotted in northern Nevada, where they haven’t lived in more than a century.

But wolves still need our help. Northern Rockies wolves were removed from the Endangered Species Act, allowing states to hunt and trap them aggressively. Over 2022-2023 in Montana and Idaho alone, more than a thousand wolves were killed.

And the House of Representatives just passed a bill that will strip federal protection from most of the other wolf populations across the lower 48.

Nonprofits such as the Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society, the Sierra Club, and more have petitioned and sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to relist the Northern Rockies wolf population under the Endangered Species Act, but so far reinstating protections has been denied.

GREEN TIP

REDUCE OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Did you know that noise and lights negatively affect amphibians?

Noise can interfere with frogs’ abilities to communicate vocally with each other, and can mask the sound of approaching predators. And light can make it easier for those predators to locate frogs.

You can help by shutting off external lights (and pulling curtains to cut out indoor lights) during vulnerable breeding seasons. Installing a light with a motion sensor rather than leaving an outdoor light burning all night will help. And think about any noise that emanates from your property or community and if it can somehow be reduced.

Cities and communities can help by making sure that the light from street lamps is directed downward, rather than diffusing broadly.

These steps will also greatly benefit many other species of wildlife, too.

You can read more about this here.

Photo by David Mohseni on Unsplash

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

OBSERVE NATURE

It’s summer and a lot of wildlife is very active — finding mates, building nests, raising young. Flowers are blooming, trees are in full leaf. It’s a great time to get out in nature.

You can help researchers gather valuable data by recording your wildlife, plant, mushroom, lichen observations, and more on the iNaturalist app or at iNaturalist.org. Bird sightings can be recorded on ebird. You can use the Merlin Bird ID app, created by the Cornell Lab, to identify birds by sound and sight, and the Seek app, created by iNaturalist, to identify plant and animal species with your phone or tablet camera.

By adding your observations, you are contributing to a global database that keeps track of biodiversity and supports a host of local and international research projects.

Photo of American pika by Alice Henderson