Danielle K. Chi
Click here to view Danielle's PowerPoint presentation with audio
Conserving Canada Lynx: Progress and Challenges in the Intermountain West
Danielle K. Chi, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, Ogden, Utah
On March 24, 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed the contiguous United States Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Canada lynx as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In the final rule, the FWS concluded that the factor threatening Canada lynx in the U.S. was the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, specifically the lack of guidance for conservation of lynx in the National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans and the BLM Land Use Plans (LRMPs). In anticipation of the listing, the Forest Service (FS), BLM, National Park Service (NPS), and FWS developed the Lynx Conservation Assessment and Strategy (LCAS) which outlined measures intended to minimize or avoid adverse effects to lynx resulting from agency actions including, but not limited to management of timber, recreation, grazing, and roads and trails. The FS and BLM committed to considering direction in the LCAS through a Conservation Agreement, until relevant LRMPs had been amended or revised to include guidance for conservation of lynx. Since that time, numerous individual Forests have amended/revised their LRMP to address conservation of lynx as outlined in the LCAS. Further, several broad, geographically-based conservation strategies have been completed that have simultaneously amended the LRMPs of multiple Forests. This presentation describes progress and challenges in implementing one of these strategies, the Northern Rockies Lynx Management Direction, particularly in the southern portion of the planning area – Wyoming, Utah, and southern Idaho.