Linked to Lynx
So it came as something of a surprise when the US Fish and Wildlife Service mapped out critical habitat for Canada lynx and excluded the southern Rockies, arguing that they lacked sufficient prey to sustain a long-term population. That the agency failed to acknowledge the successful lynx reproduction program in Colorado “runs counter to the evidence before the agency,” conservation groups argued when they took the decision to court.
A Montana District Court judge recently sided with those groups, calling on the US Fish and Wildlife Service to reassess their designated habitat for the lynx. Given the agency’s tacit acknowledgment that all other elements for lynx exist in the area, and a “close call” on whether the snowshoe hare population was sufficient, Chief District Judge Dana Christensen wrote, “the [Endangered Species Act] demands that the tie go to the species.”
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Photo: Colorado Division of Wildlife