Lynx Protected Habitat Expands by 37,000 Square Miles

The decision reverses a 2006 critical habitat designation made under former Interior Department deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks Julie MacDonald, who later resigned in disgrace.

The department's inspector general determined that MacDonald was illegally pressuring federal biologists to reach conclusions favoring certain industries over species preservation. In the case of the lynx, her designation favored the timber industry.

In 2006, Macdonald designated just 1,841 square miles of critical habitat for the lynx within the boundaries of Voyagers National Park in Minnesota, Glacier National Park in Montana, and North Cascades National Park in Washington.

The revised critical habitat designation takes in 39,000 square miles in the states of Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington.

A Canada lynx near Kalispell, Montana (Photo by Patty and Jerry Corbin)

Lynx are medium-sized cats, from 30-35 inches long, weighing from 18-23 pounds. They have tufts on their ears, short, black-tipped tails, large furry feet and long legs for traversing snow. Lynx are highly specialized predators of snowshoe hares and inhabit northern boreal forest habitat.

Areas now designated as lynx critical habitat are forests that provide either snowshoe hares for prey, abundant, large, woody debris piles that are used as dens, or winter snow conditions that are generally deep and fluffy for long periods of time.

All of the newly designated critical habitat areas have recent verified records of lynx occurrence and reproduction and as a result are considered occupied.

Critical habitat identifies geographic areas containing features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protection.

A critical habitat designation has no effect on situations that do not involve a federal agency, such as a private landowner undertaking a project that involves no federal funding or permit.

Once hunted and trapped for their fur, since their ESA listing in 2000 it has been illegal to hunt or trap lynx in the United States, except in Alaska.

Areas included in the revised critical habitat designation include areas in four states where timber harvest and management is the dominant land use.

In Maine, 9,497 square miles of critical habitat in portions of Aroostook, Franklin, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset Counties are now designated for lynx.

In Minnesota, 8,065 square miles of habitat are designated in portions of Cook, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis Counties and Superior National Forest.

In the northern Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana and a small portion of northeastern Idaho, 10,102 square miles are designated in portions of Boundary County in Idaho; and Flathead, Glacier, Granite, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Missoula, Pondera, Powell and Teton Counties in Montana. The designation also includes National Forest lands and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Garnet Resource Area.

In the North Cascade mountains and north-central Washington, 1,836 square miles are designated in portions of Chelan and Okanogan Counties and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Spokane District.

In the Greater Yellowstone Area, Yellowstone National Park and surrounding lands in southwestern Montana and northwestern Wyoming, about 9,500 square miles have been designated critical habitat in portions of Gallatin, Park, Sweetgrass, Stillwater, and Carbon Counties in Montana; and Park, Teton, Fremont, Sublette, and Lincoln Counties in Wyoming.

Impacts to lynx in the Yellowstone area include fire suppression or fuels treatment, the lack of an international conservation strategy for lynx, vehicular traffic, and residential and commercial development.

"We are privileged to live in a nearly intact ecosystem with three native cat species roaming the landscape," said Rich DeSimone, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist, referring to lynx, bobcats and mountain lions. "These cats are here because they can, to varying degrees, still access the high quality habitats that have sustained them for thousands and thousands of years."

"The future of Montana’s wild cats will depend upon our continued willingness to allow them the habitat and freedom of movement they need to reproduce and fill their traditional territories," DeSimone said.

Based on peer review, public comments and biological information received during the comment period, the Service excluded approximately 1,725 square miles of habitat from this revised critical habitat designation.

Excluded areas include tribal lands, private lands enrolled in the Maine Healthy Forest Reserve Program that employ active lynx habitat conservation measures, and state lands in Washington managed under a lynx habitat management plan.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a co-plaintiff in the original lawsuit that led to the listing of the lynx under the Endangered Species Act, says the new protected habitat designation leaves out parts of the lynx's historic habitat that should be safeguarded to allow the species to expand its range, including into areas in the southern Rocky Mountains.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.