Our Goal: Protect wolverine and their habitat and restore them to their historic range across the Rockies.
"If wolverines have a strategy it's this: go hard, and high, and steep, and never back down, not even from the biggest grizzly, and least of all from a mountain. Climb everything: trees, cliffs, avalanche chutes, summits. Eat everybody: alive, dead, long-dead, moose, mouse, fox, frog, its still-warm heart or frozen bones"- Douglas Chadwick
Wolverine territories are huge, reaching up to 300+ miles
Powerful jaws and specially designed teeth allow wolverines to devour frozen carrions and bones
Snowshoe feet and crampon like claws enable wolverines to climb steep cliffs and snow-covered peaks, pretty useful features considering they prefer elevations of 7,000 feet and higher and travel some of the most rugged terrain in the world
The famed M56 wolverine traveled 500 miles from WY to CO and became the first wolverine in Colorado in 90 years
What WCS is doing:
Nearly a decade of intensive research on this elusive species identified the need to restore wolverines to areas in the west where they used to call home, including Colorado given its high elevation and connectedness. We are continuing to partner on recovery and rewilding efforts as well as protecting habitat between their current and future range. Protecting their vast home ranges and key corridors, and exploring the return of wolverines, may be their best chance in a changing climate to ensure wolverines continue to be an icon of some of the wildest places in the world.
THREATS:
Wolverine habitat in the Rockies is being fragmented by urban expansion and shrinking wilderness. These creatures are well-adapted to live in wild cold environments, but as global warming reduces snow, their range and ability to make den sites in the snow becomes more challenging. This makes the return of wolverine to their former home in Colorado, with the high elevation peaks that they need, even more vital in the future.
Be a wolverine ambassador:
Support the 10J listing of Wolverines in Colorado to rewild wolverines
Rep your inner wolverine by posting a #whatsyourwild video or pic when you are in your wild
Fight Climate Change and the threat it poses to snow
Educate others about how awesome & vital wolverines are
Powerful and elusive creatures, wolverines bring balance to the ecosystem in the Rockies as a predator that acts like a clean-up crew, letting nothing go to waste. Their mysterious way of being inspires the wild nature in us all- to be curious, fearless, relentless, and humbled to live among such impressive beings.