Proposed rule says current habitat ‘sufficient to conserve lynx’

The protection of Canada Lynx continues to generate controversy — this time, over habitat designation . . .

A proposed federal rule on lynx critical habitat would assume the threatened cat doesn’t need forests it doesn’t currently use.

“The (U.S. Fish and Wildlife) Service determined that currently occupied habitat is sufficient to conserve lynx,” a statement from FWS Mountain-Prairie regional director Noreen Walsh stated last week. “Therefore, the designation does not include areas not currently occupied by lynx.

The new designation would cover 41,547 square miles in Montana, Maine, Minnesota, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming.

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