What a Ruling!

Chief Judge Dana L. Christensen of United States District Court for Montana on Monday ordered the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to polish up their science chops and revisit their February 2013 proposal to remove the wolverine from its endangered species list.

The wolverines of the northern Rockies require heavy spring snowpack for their dens and child rearing. Science confirms that wolverines do not reproduce in the absence of snow. As everyone but big industry and, conveniently, the USFWS, is aware, severe climate change is upon us, a fact that has led researchers to conclude that the wolverines of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming may vanish over the coming decades, along with the snow.

Regardless, the USFWS is proposing delisting the wolverine and scrapping the few meager tools we have to fight for their survival.

Judge Christensen’s decision is nothing short of a tour de force.

“No greater level of certainty is needed to see the writing on the wall for this snow-dependent species standing squarely in the path of global climate change,” he wrote. “It’s the undersigned’s view that if there is one thing required of the service under the E.S.A. it is to take action at the earliest possible, defensible point in time to protect against the loss of biodiversity within our reach as a nation. For the wolverine, that time is now.”

Christensen went even further, suggesting that the USFWS intentionally ignored sound science in their submission due to the “immense political pressure that was brought to bear” by Western states and the petroleum industry on the question of whether to list the wolverine.

Wow!

In his response to Judge Christensen’s position, Dan Ashe, director of the USFWS, found himself in the unenviable position of having to rehash the tired boilerplate of the far right, recently the subject of much derision in the form of Senator Inhofe and his snowball. “We were presented with inconclusive scientific information and decided against the listing,” Ashe said.

The New York Times article on Judge Christensen’s ruling ends with a fine quote of the naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton: “The wolverine is a tremendous character, a personality of unmeasured force, courage and achievement.”

Thank you, Judge Christensen, for helping defend this vulnerable species!

Read more here.