{"id":26061,"date":"2024-12-03T09:47:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westernlaw.org\/?p=26061"},"modified":"2024-12-03T09:48:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:48:56","slug":"feds-finalize-canada-lynx-recovery-plan-propose-first-ever-habitat-protections-in-co-nm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernlaw.org\/es\/feds-finalize-canada-lynx-recovery-plan-propose-first-ever-habitat-protections-in-co-nm\/","title":{"rendered":"Los federales ultiman el plan de recuperaci\u00f3n del lince canadiense y proponen las primeras protecciones de h\u00e1bitat en Colorado y Nuevo M\u00e9xico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized<\/a> a recovery plan and proposed<\/a> new critical habitat designations for threatened Canada lynx, including for the first time areas in the southern Rockies. Conservation groups had prevailed<\/a> in two court cases seeking to compel the Service to take action to aid lynx recovery in this region in support of 218 lynx reintroduced into Colorado from 1999-2006. The proposal seeks to protect lynx habitat increasingly threatened by climate change and exclude areas where the species\u2019 continued survival is unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe science and the law support critical habitat protections for lynx in the southern Rockies. It\u2019s what they need to have a fighting chance at survival in the face of our warming climate,\u201d said Matthew Bishop, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to push the Fish and Wildlife Service for every inch of progress on Canada lynx recovery efforts, and are hopeful the agency is beginning a new chapter of good-faith recovery efforts for this ecologically significant and iconic wild cat. More work is required and we\u2019d like to see more lands in Montana, Idaho, and Washington\u2019s Kettle Range included, but the additions in the southern Rockies are a welcome change. Should the incoming Trump administration try to claw back these protections in the southern Rockies we won\u2019t hesitate to return to court once again.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the critical habitat proposal decreases acreage around Greater Yellowstone, the new designations in the southern Rockies would add protections on 7,679 square miles in Colorado and portions of San Juan County in New Mexico. The Service also designated additional lands for lynx protection in Idaho.<\/p>\n

Critical habitat is area designated by the federal government as essential to the survival and recovery of a species protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Once designated, federal agencies must make special efforts to protect critical habitat from damage or destruction. In 2014, the Service designated approximately 38,000 acres of critical habitat for threatened lynx, but chose to exclude the lynx\u2019s entire southern Rocky Mountain range, from south-central Wyoming, throughout Colorado, and into north-central New Mexico. These areas are vital to the iconic cat\u2019s survival and recovery in the western U.S., where lynx currently live in small and sometimes isolated populations.<\/p>\n

“Finally, after decades of litigation and political gamesmanship, we are encouraged to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service taking meaningful steps to protect the Canada lynx in the western U.S. through a recovery plan and designation of additional critical habitat, including the southern Rockies,\u201d said Lindsay Larris, conservation director at WildEarth Guardians. \u201cThe Canada lynx is fighting to survive in the face of climate change and needs its habitat to be protected. This is what the Endangered Species Act requires and we hope this proposed rule is finalized despite changes in the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lynx is a keystone species in the southern Rockies ecosystem. Once considered extirpated, the lynx is back and reproducing in western Colorado\u2019s forests,\u201d said Peter Hart, legal director at Wilderness Workshop. \u201cColorado\u2019s high mountains provide increasingly important refugia for lynx as the climate warms. If we want this species to persist and thrive, we need to protect critical habitat here. This proposed rule and recovery plan appear to be a step in the right direction, but we\u2019ll be looking at the rule more closely in the next 60 days and providing detailed feedback to the agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contacts:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-324-8011, bishop@westernlaw.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Lindsay Larris, WildEarth Guardians, 720-334-7301, llarris@wildearthguardians.org
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Hart, Wilderness Workshop, 303-475-4915, peter@wildernessworkshop.org<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Canada lynx background:<\/b>
\n<\/b>Canada lynx, medium-sized members of the feline family, are habitat and prey specialists. Heavily reliant on snowshoe hare, lynx tend to be limited in both population and distribution to areas where hare are sufficiently abundant. Like their preferred prey, lynx are specially adapted to living in mature boreal forests with dense cover and deep snowpack. The species and its habitat are threatened by climate change, logging, development, motorized access, and trapping, which disturb and fragment the landscape, increasing risks to lynx and their prey.<\/p>\n

The Service first listed lynx as threatened under the ESA in 2000. However, at that time the Service failed to protect any lynx habitat, impeding the species\u2019 survival and recovery. Lynx habitat received no protection until 2006, and that initial critical habitat designation fell short of meeting the rare cat\u2019s needs and the ESA\u2019s standards. After two additional lawsuits brought by conservationists challenging the Service\u2019s critical habitat designations culminated in 2008 and 2010, a district court in Montana left the agency\u2019s lynx habitat protection in place while remanding it to the Service for improvement. This resulted in the habitat designation that was remanded for improvement again in 2016.<\/p>\n

In 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana also ruled that the Service violated the ESA by failing to prepare a recovery plan for lynx after a more than 12-year delay. The court ordered the Service to complete a recovery plan for lynx or determine that such a plan would not promote the conservation of lynx by January 15, 2018. The Service ultimately determined that a recovery plan would not promote lynx conservation. The groups listed in this statement and others sued and secured an agreement<\/a> from the Service to abandon its plans to remove endangered species protections for lynx as well as complete a draft recovery plan by a tentative deadline of Dec. 1, 2024.<\/p>\n

The Service\u2019s 2017 Species Status Assessment<\/a> analyzes lynx population centers\u2019 \u201cprobably of persistence\u201d\u2014their likelihood of surviving to the year 2100\u2014under its present regulatory framework as follows (map<\/a>):<\/p>\n