On Wednesday, U.S. wildlife officials suggested expanded habitat protections in the southern Rocky Mountains for the forest-dwelling wildcats endangered by climate change and human activity, and they completed a recovery plan for endangered Canada lynx populations.
The plan’s future is unclear under Donald Trump, the incoming president: During the Republican’s first term, officials attempted in vain to deprive lynx of the Endangered Species Act protections they had enjoyed since 2000.
The proposed habitat covers over 7,700 square miles of mountains and forests in northern New Mexico and Colorado. This is a departure from earlier U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulations that focused on recovery efforts in other areas, such as Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, and Maine, while excluding the southern Rockies.
According to Matthew Bishop, a lawyer with the Western Environmental Law Center who has participated in legal battles to safeguard lynx, this is a positive and noteworthy improvement. They were no longer truly dedicated to lynx conservation in Colorado, but they are now.
Additionally, the Idaho-Montana border is seeing the addition of protected habitat areas. Under Wednesday’s proposal, Wyoming’s protected areas would be drastically cut.
According to wildlife officials, they are adding new places deemed more conducive to lynx long-term survival while removing others where they believe the species is unlikely to flourish in the future.
Living in the boreal woodlands, lynxes are elusive creatures that mostly hunt snowshoe hares. Snowshoe hares may become less common as a result of climate change, which is removing their snowy environment.
Therefore, even under the most hopeful warming scenario that experts have thought of, lynx reductions are anticipated throughout the contiguous U.S.
In the contiguous United States, there are around 1,100 lynx, distributed among five populations. The northern Rockies and the northeastern United States have the highest concentrations.
Officials are aiming for a minimum contiguous U.S. population of 875 lynx over a 20-year span among the five populations, however those numbers are predicted to fall in some places.
The majority of lynx-suitable habitats are found in Canada and Alaska, where lynxes are common and hunting and trapping are permitted.
Following a 2016 court decision that criticized federal wildlife officials for failing to designate protections for lynx habitat in Colorado and certain areas of Montana and Idaho, the amendments were announced Wednesday.
The proposal would not alter protections for habitat in Minnesota and Maine.
Next year, a final decision is anticipated.
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