Forty-one records since 2000 is all Washington holds for the wolverine, and even that modest total marks an animal reclaiming lost ground. Wolverines were largely absent from the state through much of the twentieth century; today’s records run along the Cascade crest, with Pierce County, home to Mount Rainier, holding 13 and Okanogan County 6.
An appetite matched to a hard landscape
The wolverine is the largest mustelid on land, a broad-chested scavenger and predator built for the alpine zone, where it digs out winter-killed carcasses, hunts marmots and small game, and ranges over territories so large that even ideal habitat holds only a handful of animals. Females den in deep, persistent spring snow, which confines breeding to the highest, coldest country the Cascades and the Okanogan highlands can offer.
Present in every season, seen by almost no one
Wolverines neither hibernate nor leave the high country for winter, and Washington’s few records turn up in every season, with small crests in February and June. For all that, the odds of a person crossing paths with one are vanishingly small; most of what is known about Washington’s wolverines comes from tracks, camera stations, and the occasional distant animal crossing a snowfield.
Status in Washington
NatureServe ranks the wolverine S1, Critically Imperiled, in Washington, and G4, Apparently Secure, worldwide. It is native to the state, with its Washington core running from Mount Rainier north through the Okanogan and Chelan high country.
Full species profile
