The Fish and Wildlife Service noted that wolverine populations are relatively small, fragmented and isolated from larger populations in Canada. In Montana, the areas required for wolverines range from 193 to 588 square miles for males and 55 to 148 square miles for females. Because critical habitat designation is essential to the conservation of the species, special management consideration or protections may be required. The Fish and Wildlife Service has failed — and continues to fail — to comply with its mandatory, non-discretionary, duty to designate critical habitat for wolverines as required by Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act. To maintain and recover the species our choice was either take the delinquent agency to court or watch wolverines dwindle into extinction.