Friends of the Bitterroot v. Burgum

A coalition of wildlife conservation organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Montana to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for the distinct population segment (DPS) of North American wolverine in the lower 48 states. The plaintiffs alleged that the DPS was listed as threatened in November 2023 but that FWS had yet to initiate the process of designating critical habitat as required by the Endangered Species Act. The complaint alleged that FWS’s listing determination was primarily due to “ongoing and increasing impacts of climate change and associated habitat degradation and fragmentation.”