Idaho forest’s wolverine pictures blew up on Facebook. What did research show?
A series of photographs posted on social media recently by the Payette National Forest show trail camera images taken this February and March, with deep snow blanketing the ground and the conifer trees of the forest.
Each photo has another key similarity: They all feature a stocky, dark-furred animal with light markings, a bushy tail and large paws. In some images, the critter is trekking through the snow. In one, it’s climbing a tree trunk.
The Payette’s post explains that wildlife biologists have been setting up game cameras in the fall in the hopes of capturing images of wolverines before retrieving the cameras in the spring. Wolverines — the sturdy animals in the images the national forest shared online — are the largest members of the mustelid family, which includes species of badgers, otters and weasels.
Known for being quite shy, wolverines are also classified as “threatened” in the Lower 48 under the Endangered Species Act.
In order to study the wolverines, researchers set up cameras at stations where bait and scent lures attract the animals. Payette National Forest spokesperson Kelly Martin told the Idaho Statesman that researchers are studying “a localized population of wolverines and how we can help limit impacts to the species.”
The photos posted on Facebook were shared dozens of times, and garnered dozens of comments and hundreds of likes. Several commenters shared their experiences glimpsing wolverines in or around the Payette National Forest.
Wildlife technician Jacob Irwin told the Statesman that multiple visitors and outfitters report finding evidence of wolverines to Payette officials each year. Irwin said people who recreate in the winter by skiing or snowmobiling are most likely to come across wolverine signs, such as tracks in snow.
“Periods of dry, cold weather offer ideal conditions for preserving footprints,” Irwin said in an emailed statement. “The particular individual could have passed days ago, but their evidence is still visible. For most people, this is the closest they will ever get to a wolverine.”
Research sheds light on Idaho wolverine population
While the photos posted on social media were taken earlier this year, research on wolverines has been ongoing. Scientists used the same camera methods between fall 2024 and spring 2025 to research wolverines in the Payette, Sawtooth and Boise national forests, according to a report from December 2025 that was shared with the Statesman.
From more than 46,000 total photos, the cameras captured 5,001 images of wolverines across the three forests. The two sites with the most wolverine photographs were in the Payette National Forest, and the report suggested those numbers “perhaps reflect(ed) resident animals that periodically ‘checked in’ at the sites.”
Researchers differentiated individual wolverines using DNA from hair samples collected from the bait stations, as well as visually distinct markings such as white toes, white paws and unique coloring.
Martin said researchers want to know whether individual wolverines frequent the same areas year after year, and if wolverines in the area are related to one another, which scientists determine using the DNA hair samples. She said hair samples are gathered with snare traps on trees that grab the animals’ fur if the wolverine climbs a tree.
The documented animals included a female wolverine known as Olive who has been documented in the Payette National Forest since 2013. She was radio collared as a juvenile in the Sawtooth National Forest in 2012.
“Finding Olive was very exciting for us, especially for a few of us that were a part of the project that radio-collared her in the Sawtooths,” said Grace Hopkins, Payette National Forest wildlife biologist, in an emailed statement. “It’s really rewarding just to know that we still have a fairly robust group of individuals out there. I personally want to get more/better DNA on the individuals that were identified at the same station as Olive to see if there are familial bonds there suggesting successful reproduction.”
According to the report, this was the first time a camera study in Idaho left baited camera stations up past the end of March, when previous research efforts pulled the stations to avoid grizzly interactions or accessibility issues after warmer weather makes snowmobile travel to camera sites impossible. Leaving the cameras up longer let researchers identify two female wolverines that they said would not have otherwise been documented.
In all, the study identified nine unique wolverines in the Payette National Forest and 11 in the Sawtooth. Martin called it a “small but important number of these elusive creatures,” which are estimated to number around only 300 in the contiguous United States.
Martin said the research helps the forest ensure it’s maintaining appropriate habitat for wolverines and informs timber sales, prescribed fire, winter travel and any other “ground disturbance project” that could impact wolverines.
