Tag Archives: Canada lynx

Proposed rule says current habitat ‘sufficient to conserve lynx’

Environmental Issues, News, ,

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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Judge blocks three more timber projects over lynx rules

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More lynx-related lawsuits on the docket . . .

A federal judge this week blocked three Montana logging projects in two national forests, saying the U.S. government did not properly examine the effects the projects might have on lynx and the threatened animal’s habitat.

That makes four timber projects since May in which U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen found fault with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ conclusion that cutting and burning in those areas would not significantly harm the big cats’ territory.

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Study focuses on elusive forest carnivores

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A study is underway in the southwest Crown of the Continent ecosystem that attempts to gather more information on smaller, elusive predators such as wolverine, lynx and fisher . . .

A compact disc dangling from the branch of a lodgepole pine catches the morning sunlight and mimics the flash of a snowshoe hare, while the hindquarters of a road-kill deer wired to a nearby bear-rub tree will lure in a suite of small, elusive carnivores that range in the Swan Valley.

Wolverine, lynx and fisher will visit the “bait station,” which bristles with gun bore brushes that collect clumps of the critters’ fur. Subsequent DNA testing, to be completed this summer, will identify the individual animals and help establish a baseline for population and distribution of the three target species, as well as other small carnivores that sniff out the carrion – bobcat, coyote, fox, pine martens, and weasel.

Continue reading . . .

Playing catch-up: Spring brings a crop of lawsuits

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Your friendly web-slinger was away on an extended road trip, so we’re playing catch-up. Here’s a spring crop of environmental lawsuits, all filed within days of each other. . .

Environmentalists file federal suit over logging on Montana state forests – A 50-year permit for logging and development on Montana state forests faces a federal lawsuit from environmentalists who say the state won’t do enough to protect threatened grizzly bears or bull trout. The Friends of the Wild Swan, Montana Environmental Information Center and Natural Resources Defense Council sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula’s U.S. District Court on Monday. Continue reading . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks sued over trapping in lynx habitat – Three conservation groups filed a federal court lawsuit Thursday against Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners and Director Jeff Hagener for allowing trapping and snaring in Canada lynx habitat. The Friends of the Wild Swan, the WildEarth Guardians and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies say FWP reported at least nine incidents since 2000 of lynx being caught in traps set for other species; and say four of those animals died. They alleged that this violates the federal Endangered Species Act, which lists lynx as a threatened species and warranted for protection, and want the trapping prohibited in lynx habitat. Continue reading . . .

Group keeps up challenge to logging roads – A conservation group said Wednesday it will keep pushing federal authorities to more closely regulate muddy logging roads, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that sided with the timber industry on the issue. Continue reading . . .