The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will protect the wolverine population in the lower 48 states as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — a decision that will provide this rare wilderness species with new legal protections and programs for recovery. The decision represents the culmination of a campaign by conservationists over decades that required six rounds of successful litigation to secure federal protections. Most recently, conservation groups succeeded in 2022 in persuading a federal judge to vacate a 2020 decision by the service denying Endangered Species Act protections for wolverines in the lower 48 states. That victory sent the agency back to the drawing board to reconsider its determination and set the stage for today’s listing decision.