When thinking about California, most people don't imagine wolverines. But for centuries, this elusive predator was abundant in the Golden State — and now, one politician is trying to bring them back.
California Assemblymember Laura Friedman introduced a bill, AB 2722, to "assess the feasibility of a population reintroduction or supplementation program with the goal of restoring a viable population of wolverines to the state."
"Our mountains used to be rich with wildlife that is now rare or functionally extinct in our state. Among the endemic species that are now but memories in our wilderness is the wolverine," Friedman said, per KTLA. "I have introduced AB 2722 with the goal of seeing wolverines returned to our mountain passes."
David Garcelon, the president of the Institute for Wildlife Studies, had previously spent a decade planning how to reintroduce wolverines to California. Sadly, he was unable to secure the needed permits, and his efforts remained unrealized.
After learning of Friedman's bill, he told the Los Angeles Times: "I really want to give the wolverines a chance. I'm not really in favor of waiting another 50 years to see if they can do it on their own."
Repopulation efforts such as this one have been tremendously successful around the world, from tortoises in the Galápagos Islands to bald eagles in the Channel Islands.
And generally, the reintroduction of a keystone or apex species — including the wolverine — sends out ripples of positive change, often extremely quickly.
For example, reintroduced wildebeest on the Serengeti helped graze down overgrown prairie grass, which had died and turned into risky wildfire kindling.
In Yellowstone, reintroduced gray wolves curbed the population of deer, allowing plants to flourish and, in turn, drawing back many other species.
"Healthier ecosystems, with richer biodiversity, yield greater benefits such as more fertile soils, bigger yields of timber and fish, and larger stores of greenhouse gasses," the United Nations' Decade on Ecosystem Restoration reported. "The economic benefits of such interventions exceed nine times the cost of investment, whereas inaction is at least three times more costly than ecosystem restoration."
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