Wolverine prospector or permanent resident in the Wallowas Mountains in Oregon? Tough as nails are our Wolverines but so, so, so sensitive to the human footprint..................Colorado, Oregon, California again with Bearcats..................Can we get them back in Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan where they also once roamed?

Wolverine's presence in Wallowas confirmed

Elusive animal's tracks found on trail

The wolverine, described as a 30-pound ball of muscle, teeth and attitude, requires vast wild areas to roam and survive. Researchers have been studying wolverines for years in Glacier National Park, one of the species' last strongholds in the U.S.

Biologists documented the presence of a wolverine in the towering Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon recently. Researcher Audrey Magoun found the tracks of a single animal while she was checking a trail camera last Sunday that was set up to detect wolverines. The camera did not capture an image of the animal, but Magoun was able to follow the tracks for about a mile before they left a creek bottom and headed to higher elevation in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area. "From the size of the track, it is probably a male," Magoun said.

Magoun and her husband, Pat Valkenburg, both veteran wildlife researchers, are surveying the Eagle Cap area for signs of wolverines. The couple spend their winters at Flora, Ore., and summers in Alaska.
Vic Coggins, district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at Enterprise, said there have been past reports of wolverine sightings in the area, but this is the first confirmed evidence of one of the rare animal "We spent a fair amount of time over the years looking for signs," he said. "We've always thought it was good habitat, and we've had reports, but nothing we could verify until now."
Wolverines are listed as a threatened species by the state of Oregon, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined wolverines warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The agency found that wolverine habitat is threatened by global warming but declined to add them to the list of threatened and endangered species. Instead, it designated them as warranted but precluded, meaning their numbers justify protection but the agency chooses to spend its time and money on more imperiled species.
There are believed to be about 250 to 300 wolverines across the northern tier of the contiguous United States, including animals in Washington, Idaho and Montana. They prefer high-elevation areas like mountain cirques.Wolverines are members of the weasel family, weigh 17 to 40 pounds and are about the size of a small bear cub.
Magoun said there are breeding populations in the Payette Forest of Idaho and in the North Cascades of Washington."In fact, we couldn't believe wolverine wouldn't be here. They travel large distances."She hopes to determine if the animal that left tracks in the Wallowas is a resident or one just passing through the area.