Wolverine family in a remote area of Mount Rainier National Park, June 2021/Cascades Carnivore Project

A second litter of wolverine kits has been spotted at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.

Staff from the park and the Cascades Carnivore Project say this is only the third wolverine family documented in Washington’s South Cascades in a century, and just the second family documented in the national park during that time.

Researchers retrieved photographs and video from cameras set in a remote area of the park where they believed a female wolverine likely denned in 2020. They discovered this wolverine with her two young kits while visiting the area this past June. 

The study is a collaboration between Mount Rainier National Park, Cascades Carnivore Project, and the U.S. Forest Service to document the natural recolonization of wolverines into southern Washington and improve scientists’ understanding of how climate change threatens this rare and elusive carnivore. 

“It’s great news to learn that we have our second documented wolverine litter in the park,” said Mount Rainier Superintendent Greg Dudgeon. “It helps us confirm that the park’s wilderness is excellent habitat for wolverines, and that protection of these wild areas is important to the success of many species of wildlife.” 

“Wolverines returning to and reproducing in their historical range is huge for wolverine conservation,” added Jocelyn Akins, founder of Cascades Carnivore Project. “However, there are very few wolverines in Washington. Globally, wolverines face new potential threats from climate change and increased recreation in wilderness areas.” Akins stated “In Washington, connectivity, particularly across I-90 is key to healthy wolverine populations.” 

This female wolverine was first detected at Mount Rainier National Park in late 2019 and is only the second female wolverine documented in Washington’s South Cascades in modern times. Her DNA, from hair samples collected at several wolverine monitoring stations, confirmed she is part of the recovering wolverine population in Washington and that she did not disperse from a neighboring state.  

It was just about a year ago when remote cameras photographed another female with her kits. That marked the first time in more than a century that wolverines were found to have reproduced in the park.

Wolverines are native to Washington’s Cascade Range, but are believed to have been extirpated by the 1920s, most likely due to unregulated trapping, shooting, and poisoning associated with predator control efforts. Individual wolverines have been moving south out of Canada to recolonize the North Cascades. Surveys by a collaborative group of researchers for more than 20 years have documented wolverines reoccupying their former habitat throughout the Cascades.