Conservation Northwest together with nine other conservation organizations have filed an intent to sue the federal government for refusing to protect wolverines, one of the rarest forest mammals in the West. Protections were first petitioned for nearly a decade ago.

The Bush administration says it doesn't have to follow the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect wolverines because a healthy population still persists in Canada. Yet earlier this year the agency conceded that if nothing is done, the lower-48 wolverine population would be at risk of extinction.

“Washington State is one of the last strongholds for this gritty animal,” says Joe Scott, Conservation Northwest director of international conservation. “They are the ultimate survivors, able to live in mountains that routinely get 20 feet of snow. But even wolverines need legal help and we must work with our Canadian friends, not depend on them, to ensure these animals have a future.”

Wolverines once roamed across the northern tier of the U.S. and as far south as New Mexico and southern California. Today's wolverines have been reduced to small, fragmented populations in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.