Conservation Group Calls on Federal Agencies to Protect Critical Canada Lynx Habitat

WASHINGTON – Defenders of Wildlife announced today that it is prepared to bring legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if it fails to promptly throw out a Canada lynx protection plan that the agency admits was influenced by political meddling. After admitting that its 2006 decision designating critical habitat for Canada lynx was politically influenced, FWS now plans to conduct an internal review of the designation, but has chosen not to discard the tainted plan or allow transparent public participation in the review.

The Canada lynx critical habitat designation is one of eight FWS decisions that the agency decided to review after determining that they had been improperly influenced by former Interior Department deputy assistant secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald, a political appointee who oversaw the FWS, resigned after the release of a critical report by the inspector general of Department of the Interior, which stated that she had “bullied, insulted, and harassed the professional staff…to change documents and alter biological reporting.”

“An internal investigation on the lynx ruling is a start, but it isn’t enough. It does not allow for public input and full transparency, which should be foremost on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s list of priorities, after MacDonald’s scandal has left people seriously doubting the scientific integrity of the agency,” said Andrew Hawley, spokesperson for Defenders of Wildlife. “If the agency does not withdraw this illegal decision and promptly start the designation process over again from the beginning, with accurate scientific data, we will be forced to take legal action.”  

All the areas in the illegal 2006 designation fall on National Park Service land, even though most lynx live in national forests. FWS failed to designate any national forest land, despite its central importance to the lynx’s continued survival and eventual recovery. FWS claimed that the national forest lynx management guidelines justify refusing to designate any critical habitat for lynx on national forest lands, but these guidelines are weak and largely voluntary.

“This proposal fell dramatically short of what should have been designated as critical habitat,” said Hawley. “It unlawfully excluded nearly all federal lands, failed to include several regions where lynx currently live, and excluded many currently unoccupied areas that will be essential to the continued survival and recovery of the lynx.”

FWS originally proposed 18,000 square miles of lynx habitat in Maine, the Great Lakes states and the northern Rockies/Cascades region as critical habitat for the lynx in 2005. This proposed critical habitat represented only a fraction of the lynx’s range in the lower 48 states and was clearly inadequate to ensure for the conservation of the species. Subsequently, of the 18,000 square miles of land FWS originally proposed, only 1,841 square miles were designated in the 2006 critical habitat rule, slashing the original proposal by nearly 90 percent.

Habitat areas identified by FWS as important to the lynx, but that were left out of the designation, include northern Maine, northern New Hampshire and Vermont, northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Montana and northeastern Idaho, the northern Cascades, the Kettle River Range and an area known as the wedge in Washington and the greater Yellowstone area in the northern Rockies.

FWS first recognized the need to protect the lynx more than twenty years ago, but it took five successful lawsuits and nearly twenty years before the agency finally listed the lynx as “threatened” in 2000 under the Endangered Species Act.  An additional two lawsuits were necessary before FWS designated the species’ critical habitat, also as required by the act. 

Defenders of Wildlife is also challenging the failure of the FWS to list the lynx as an endangered species. Instead, the agency chose the less-protective “threatened” designation. The best scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that the lynx is at risk of extinction throughout a significant part of its range, qualifying the lynx for the highest degree of protection the Endangered Species Act affords.

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Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities.  With more than 900,000 members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come.  For more information, visit www.defenders.org.