Lynx On The Brink, Suit Says Without Endangered Listing, Selective Predator Could Soon Be Extinct
High in the Cascades, a showshoe hare hops out of the trees and freezes, almost invisible against snow blanketing the ragged mountain forest.
Too late.
In an explosion of white powder, a wildcat leaps 10 feet across the clearing. Two more bounds and the bunny is breakfast.
The meal provides about two days of sustenance for the reclusive lynx, one of the world’s most selective predators, a medium-sized cat that once ranged from Alaska to Utah and New England to the Pacific Northwest.
Even following tracks, “your chance of seeing the animal is extremely remote,” says John Weaver of Missoula, an independent wildlife researcher who formerly worked for the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service.
“They avoid being around humans,” said Lori Nordstrom, an agency wildlife biologist who led a status review of the lynx.
She and most other Fish and Wildlife scientists who contributed to the year-long study recommended that the lynx, already granted protection by 13 states, be listed as endangered throughout New England, the Great Lakes, northern Plains and the southern Rockies and as threatened in the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest. Lynx populations in Canada and Alaska number in the thousands.
Nordstrom’s recommendations were rejected in late 1994.
The Fish and Wildlife Service asserted that the lynx still “occupies much of its original historic range.”
On Jan. 30, 13 organizations and two individuals sued the agency in U.S. District court in Washington, D.C., asking that the agency be ordered to propose listing the lynx for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Biologists estimate there may be 150 to 400 lynx in Montana, 100 to 150 in Washington state, as many as 50 in Idaho, 20 to 50 in Maine and scattered individuals in other states.”
But without any systematic population surveys, “we’re really just guessing,” said Weaver, who holds a doctorate in wildlife biology.
Of all the wildlife predators in the American West, only the wolverine has been less studied than the lynx, he said.
Lynx declines have been blamed mainly on aggressive trapping in the 1970s to the mid-‘80s, when furriers paid as much as $500 a pelt, and loss of habitat from fire suppression and clearcut logging.
Lynx and hares can survive selective logging, but clearcutting destroys their habitat for as long as two decades.
“If this species is not listed and policies are not changed, I think we’re going to see the extirpation (extermination) of lynx in Washington and Montana and Idaho,” said Mitch Friedman, a conservation biologist and executive director of the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance in Bellingham.
xxxx LYNX FACTS Scientific name - Felis lynx canadensis. Description - Medium-sized wildcat, 2 to 3-1/2 feet long, 10 to 40 pounds, luxurious brownish gray fur, long legs, large and furry paws, tufted ears, short tail with a black tip. Habitat - Northern forests in Canada, Alaska and northern tier of United States, mountain fir and lodgepole pine forests in the U.S. Rockies. Prey - Snowshoe hare accounts for about 90 percent of the lynx diet. Remainder chiefly squirrels, other small mammals and birds. No known predation of domestic animals. Leap - Maximum about 20 feet. Top speed - Estimated at 20 to 25 miles an hour in short bursts. Fur value - Prices peak at about $70 for a top-quality pelt from Alaska or northern Canada, according to Jerry Campbell, a 33-year veteran fur buyer at H.E. Goldberg & Co. in Seattle. Outerwear made from a number of pelts ranges from $8,000 for a medium-grade jacket to $25,000 for a full-length coat at Kasi da Furs in Bellevue. Historic range - Canada, Alaska, New England, Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains southward to Colorado and Utah, Pacific Northwest. Current range - Canada, Alaska and small numbers in Maine, Montana, Washington state and possibly Idaho. Reintroduced to New York, some may be present. Extremely rare or extinct in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Extinct in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and South Dakota. Populations - No hard numbers and estimates vary widely. Thousands remain in Alaska and Canada, and biologists estimate there are about 20 to 50 in Maine, 150 to 400 in Montana, 50 or fewer in Idaho and 100 to 150 in Washington state, said Bill Snape, a lawyer for the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C.