Lynx Protections At Risk

Your Voice Needed! Against the recommendations of a team of biologists, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed to drop key lynx protections in an amendment to forest plans across the Northern Rockies region. Please take action now to help us protect lynx and their habitat, from the Canada border to Utah, by supporting a restored lynx amendment that follows biologists' recommendations.

Background
The lynx was listed as Threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in March of 2000. In response, a team of biologists was brought together to develop a strategy - the Lynx Conservation Assessment and Strategy, or "Lynx Strategy" for short - to restore the lynx in the western U.S. To implement this strategy created by the team, the Forest Service has proposed an amendment to update land management plans throughout the region - an area of 18.5 million acres. Unfortunately, the Forest Service is proposing a "preferred alternative" that drops or severely weakens virtually all significant reforms recommended by its own team of biologists - regarding logging, fire suppression, snowmobiles, and grazing - to the point where this could be aptly named the "Why bother?" alternative!

What You Can Do
Please attend a public meeting and/or submit written comments in support of a strong Forest Service amendment to protect the lynx. Public meetings will occur throughout the region, beginning February 3 (see schedule below). Written comments are due April 15.

Points to consider in your comments to the Forest Service:

1. If you are going to do this, do it right. This amendment is only worthwhile if it significantly protects the lynx and lynx habitat! Implement the biologists' Lynx Strategy in full (Alternative B), do not drop the recommended standards or weaken them to "guidelines" (which makes them no longer required), and delete the loophole ("ALL S2") that would allow projects that do not comply with the standards to proceed anyway. Failure to remedy these problems will fail to restore lynx in the Northern Rockies.
2. Do not exempt all fire prevention work from lynx standards. The Forest Service proposes to exempt all wildfire "fuel treatment projects" from addressing the needs of lynx, which threatens to undo all of the forest management reforms necessary to restore and maintain lynx habitat. Exemptions for fire prevention activities should only be allowed where they are most effective, within 500 yards of human residences and other structures. These generally are not appropriate areas to restore lynx anyway.
3. Reinstate standards to protect forests for lynx. The fate of lynx is directly tied to their main food source, the snowshoe hare. Thinning forests is known to harm hares, so the Lynx Strategy recommends thinning be restricted in lynx habitat. Yet the Forest Service's "preferred alternative" exempts all wildfire prevention work from any thinning restrictions. Lynx are also known to need secure denning habitat to raise their young, and sufficient forest cover to safely travel through their territory. The Forest Service should reinstate the numerical standards in the Lynx Strategy to maintain sufficient habitat for snowshoe hares, lynx den sites, and other lynx needs.
4. Reinstate standards to protect lynx from snowmobiles. The Lynx Strategy recommends that snowmobiles, and other winter activities that are noisy, disruptive, and compact snow, should be confined to designated routes and "play areas" to minimize their potential impacts on lynx. The Forest Service's preferred alternative allows increased grooming of snowmobile trails in all areas of current snowmobile use, regardless of whether snowmobiles are harmful to lynx in these areas.
5. Reinstate standards to protect lynx from livestock grazing. The Lynx Strategy recommends and common sense indicates that livestock should be managed in a manner that retains cover and food for lynx and snowshoe hares. Again, the Forest Service has dropped these provisions, and should reinstate them. If it turns out that these or other standards make no difference to lynx, they can always be retracted later, but failure to implement any standards now will do nothing to restore the lynx.

Submit written comments, due April 15, address them to:

Northern Rockies Lynx Amendment
Northern Region Headquarters
P.O. Box 7669
Missoula, MT 59807

Send E-mail comments to comments-northern-regional-office@fs.fed.us (please specify Northern Rockies Lynx Amendment on the subject line).

For more information on the lynx amendment, including a copy of the Draft EIS, contact the Forest Service: Joan Dickerson, 406-329-3314; jdickerson@fs.fed.us.
The Draft EIS is available online at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/planning/lynx.html

For more information on how you can help support a strong amendment, contact: MT - David Gaillard, Predator Conservation Alliance, 406-587-3389, gaillard@predatorconservation.org ID - Gary Macfarlane, Friends of the Clearwater, 208-882-9755, gary@wildrockies.org WY - Meredith Taylor, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-455-2161, metaylor@wyoming.com UT - Mike Medberry, Western Wildlife Conservancy, 801-575-7107, mmed@mindspring.com

Additional information is also posted on the Predator Conservation Alliance website: http://www.predatorconservation.org/lynx.html

Lynx public meetings - Please attend!

Idaho

Feb 3 7:00-9:00 Salmon Public Lands Center NE Conference Room
50 Highway 93
Salmon, ID

Feb 5 7:00-9:00 Challis Challis/Middle Fork Ranger District Highway 93
Challis, ID

Feb 11 5:00-8:00 Idaho Falls Caribou-Targhee National Forest Forest Supervisors Office
1405 Hollipark Drive
Idaho Falls, ID

Feb 11 4:00-7:00 Grangeville Nez Perce National Forest Forest Supervisors Office
East Highway 13
Grangeville, ID

Feb 12 4:00-8:00 Orofino Clearwater National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office
12730 Hwy 12
Orofino, ID

Mar 1 6:30-9:00 Priest Lake Priest Lake, ID To be announced later

Mar 2 6:30-9:00 Coeur d'Alene Idaho Panhandle National Forest Forest Supervisor's Office
3815 Schreiber Way
Coeur d'Alene, ID

Mar 3 12:00-9:00 Boise Natural Resource Center Boise National Forest/BLM office
1387 S. Vinnell Way
Boise, ID

Montana

Feb 3 4:30-7:30 Bozeman Holiday Inn
5 Baxter Lane
Bozeman, MT

Feb 3 6:30-8:30 Libby Kootenai National Forest Forest Supervisors Office
1101 US Highway 2 West
Libby, MT

Feb 4 7:00-9:00 Hamilton Holiday Inn Express 139 Bitterroot PL Dr
Hamilton, MT

Feb 5 7:00-9:00 Missoula Holiday Inn Parkside 200 S. Pattee St
Missoula, MT

Feb 17 12:00-1:30 Dillon Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Forest Supervisors Office
420 Barrett Street
Dillon, MT

Feb 19 7:00-9:00 Billings Custer National Forest Forest Supervisors Office
1310 Main
Billings, MT

Wyoming

Feb 3 6:30-8:30 Afton Lincoln County School District Building 222 East 4 th Avenue
Afton, WY

Feb 4 6:30-8:30 Kemmerer Kemmerer Town Hall 220 Wyoming Hwy 233
Kemmerer, WY

Feb 4 4:00-7:00 Cody County Courthouse, Barley Room 1002 Sheridan Ave
Cody, WY

Feb 5 6:30-8:30 Jackson Teton County Commissioners Chambers
200 S. Willow
Jackson, WY

Feb 5 4:00-7:00 Riverton Holiday Inn
900 E. Sunset
Riverton, WY

Feb 10 6:30-8:30 Pinedale Pinedale Elementary School 665 North Tyler
Pinedale, WY

Feb 11 6:30-8:30 Marbleton Marbleton Fire Hall Hwy 189
Marbleton, WY

Feb 12 6:30-8:30 Rock Springs Rock Springs Public Library 400 Charles Street
Rock Springs, WY

Feb 19 7:00-9:00 Sheridan Bighorn National Forest 2013 Eastside Second St.
Sheridan, WY

Utah

Feb 19 3:00-7:00 Vernal Ashley National Forest Forest Supervisor's Office
355 N. Vernal Avenue
Vernal, UT

Thank you for helping to restore the rare and majestic lynx!

Alert courtesy of Alliance Member Group Predator Conservation Alliance
David Gaillard, Program Associate
P.O. Box 6733, Bozeman, MT 59771
406-587-3389
gaillard@predatorconservation.org
www.predatorconservation.org