Action Update

Federal Government Denies Protection for Maine’s Lynx

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in November that it will not designate any land in Maine as critical habitat for the federally endangered Canada lynx.

Last year the service proposed designating 10,000 square miles in northern Maine as critical habitat for lynx, which would protect the species by calling for careful review of development projects that require a permit or funding from a federal agency.

But this fall, the Maine Forest Products Council—on behalf of members including Maine’s largest landowner, Seattle-based Plum Creek—requested that its members’ land be excluded from the designation, claiming that that Maine landowners’ forestry practices are the reason Maine has such good habitat for the lynx in the first place and that more regulation is unnecessary.

Maine Audubon called on the service to deny the landowners’ requests because lynx are in trouble across the nation, and Maine is the only state in the East where they live. If the exemption is upheld, lynx could become extinct in Maine.

Despite Maine Audubon’s urging, letters of support from hundreds of Maine residents, and expert testimony on ways to improve the critical habitat rule, the service decided that the potential benefits of the added regulation would be outweighed by the risk of alienating timber companies and other landowners who would be subject to more federal oversight.

"For regulators to say, 'Well, the landowners don't want it,' is not an appropriate reaction," said Jody Jones, Maine Audubon wildlife ecologist. "We wouldn't have clean air and clean water if we took that approach —and we won't have Canada lynx if we take that approach. Instead, regulators should be guided by what's best for lynx."

You Can Help

Tell Maine’s delegation that you are disappointed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is denying protection for Canada lynx. The Maine Forest Products Council and Plum Creek should work with the service to develop and implement a management plan that’s guided by the critical habitat designation and addresses the habitat needs of the lynx.

Please call or use the email forms on the delegation web sites or fax your letter (mail to the White House and to Congress is very slow)

 

Senator Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5344
Fax: 202-224-1946
To send an email, use the Senator's web form.

Senator Susan Collins
172 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2523
Fax: 202-224-2693
To send an email, use the Senator's web form.

Representative Tom Allen
1630 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-6116
Fax: 202-225-5590
rep.tomallen@mail.house.gov

Representative Michael Michaud
437 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-6306
Fax: 202-225-2943
rep.mikemichaud@mail.house.gov

Background

In 2000, Maine Audubon supported listing Canada lynx as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of the small number of animals known in Maine.

According to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, land designated as critical habitat contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protection. The designation does not affect private land ownership, eliminate timber harvesting, or establish a conservation area.

However, development proposed for land designated as critical habitat that requires a permit or funding from a federal agency must be reviewed for potential effects on the threatened or endangered species.

Part of 421,000 acres around Moosehead Lake that Plum Creek seeks to have rezoned for development is within the proposed critical habitat designation, as is land in Aroostook, Franklin, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset counties.

“We’re concerned that lynx could disappear in Maine if an exemption is granted for vast acres of lynx habitat,” Stockwell said. “We encourage the Maine Forest Products Council and Plum Creek to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop and implement a management plan that’s guided by the critical habitat designation and addresses the habitat needs of the lynx.”

The Maine Forest Products Council and Plum Creek claim their land should be exempted from the critical habitat designation because they will protect lynx habitat by following the rules of the Maine Forest Practices Act. But while the Act limits the size of forest clear-cuts and buffers between clear-cuts, it does not guarantee forest management that would necessarily benefit Canada lynx and the lynx’s primary prey species, snowshoe hare.

In contrast, forest management practices aligned with a critical habitat designation will help create lynx habitat for dens, and shelter for raising lynx kittens, as well as habitat for snowshoe hare. These practices also will help create the travel corridors lynx need to move between areas of high-quality habitat and find mates.

If it is granted, conservationists are likely to appeal the exemption. In every case that a critical-habitat exemption from the Department of the Interior has been appealed, the appeal—and therefore the exemption—has been denied by the courts.

Maine Audubon’s evaluation of an analysis prepared for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the proposed critical habitat designation’s economic impact on Maine landowners revealed incorrect assumptions and significant overestimates. Among them are overestimates of the cost of preparing habitat management plans and the financial impact of limits on pre-commercial forest thinning. The economic analysis also incorrectly assumes there will be no development of the lands, and it therefore incorrectly projects a loss of potential revenue.

Maine Audubon contributed testimony to the process that led to federal designation of the lynx as threatened in 2000.

What is Critical Habitat?

Research shows species with designated critical habitat fare better than those without.

Under the Endangered Species Act, critical habitat identifies geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management or protection. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a conservation area.

Critical habitat designation is one of several tools that help ensure a threatened species is kept from the brink of extinction. The critical habitat designation will provide federal and state agencies with information on what areas are essential to a healthy lynx population in Maine. If development requires a wetlands permit from federal agencies, that could trigger a review of the effects on lynx. Projects that use federal funding would also need federal review under the designation. In addition a management plan may be developed to guide forestry management on a landscape scale to ensure enough patches of appropriate habitat are scattered and connected across the boreal forest where lynx live.

Areas proposed as critical habitat for Canada lynx include boreal forests that provide snowshoe hare for prey and abundant large, woody debris piles lynx use as dens. In addition to northern Maine, lynx live in boreal forests in the Great Lakes, the Northern Rocky Mountains, the Southern Rocky Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains.