US proposes plan to help the snow-dependent Canada lynx before warming shrinks its habitat

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. officials on Friday proposed a $31 million recovery plan for the Canada lynx in an effort to help the snow-dependent wild cat species that scientists say could be wiped out from parts of the contiguous U.S. by the end of the century.

The proposal marks a sharp turnaround from five years ago, when officials under the Donald Trump presidency said the lynx had recovered and no longer needed protection after their numbers rebounded in some areas. President Joseph Biden's administration reached a legal settlement with environmental groups in 2021 to preserve endangered species protections for lynx that were first imposed in 2000.

Populations of the medium-sized wild cats in New Hampshire, Maine and Washington states are most at risk as warmer temperatures reduce habitat for bobcats and their primary food, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents show.

But even under the most optimistic warming scenario that officials considered, the decline in lynx numbers would be seen in boreal forests in the contiguous U.S., the newly released documents show. That includes lynx populations in the northern and southern Rocky Mountains and in the Midwest.

The recovery plan says protecting 95% of current lynx habitat in the lower 48 states over the next few decades would help the species remain viable. And it suggests that the lynx could be moved to the Yellowstone region of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho – an area where they do not currently live – as a potential refuge from climate change.

There are approximately 1,100 lynx in the contiguous US, spread across five populations with the greatest concentrations in the Northeastern US and the Northern Rockies. Most areas suitable for lynx are in Alaska and Canada.

These numbers are expected to plummet in some areas, and the proposal would aim for a minimum contiguous U.S. population of 875 total lynx over a 20-year period across the five populations, including 400 in the Northeast and 200 in the Northern Rockies. to the proposal.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a November 2024 deadline to create a related plan to protect lands where lynx are found. That resulted from a legal settlement with two environmental groups: Wild Earth Guardians and Wilderness Workshop.

U.S. government biologists first predicted in 2016 that some lynx populations could disappear by 2100.

Under Trump, however, officials shortened their timeframe for considering climate change threats, from 2100 to 2050, because of what they said were uncertainties in long-term climate models. A government assessment based on that shortened time period concluded that lynx populations in parts of Colorado and Maine had increased from historic levels.

The proposed recovery plan comes two days after the Biden administration announced protections for another snow-dependent species: the North American wolverine. That came in response to scientists' warnings that climate change is likely to melt away the wolverines' mountain retreats and push them toward extinction.