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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed a sweeping expansion of the amount of "critical habitat" for the threatened Canada lynx, including an additional 21,000 square miles in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, a move that would increase the area of critical habitat from 1,841 square miles in the lower 48 states to 42,735.
The habitat would, for the first time, include areas around Yellowstone National Park. The change would require government agencies to take the lynx into account when determining federal land use. Private property owners would not be affected unless seeking federal funding or permits on their land, the agency said.
The federal government designated 1,841 square miles of critical habitat in 2006, mostly in national parks, despite a draft report recommending nearly 27,000 square miles.
That 2006 decision, though, was one of eight to be reconsidered by the Fish and Wildlife Service after a federal investigation found that decisions had been tainted by the political influence of Julie MacDonald, the Interior Department's deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service. MacDonald resigned last May (Greenwire, May 22, 2007).
The lynx, listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2000, is a rarely seen, forest-dwelling cat that tends to live at higher elevations where its primary source of food, the snowshoe hare, is found. Wildlife officials do not have a clear estimate of how many lynx might be living in those forests -- there are perhaps 200 to 300 in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, according to one estimate -- so protections for the cat tend to focus on conserving potential habitat and places where the snowshoe hare lives (Mike Stark, Billings Gazette, Feb. 29).
Prarie dog status to be reconsidered
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to reconsider federal protection for the white-tailed prairie dog after its previous decision was found to be influenced by political pressure from a former Interior Department official. In a court settlement signed Tuesday, FWS will begin a formal status review by May 1 and will determine by June 2010 whether Endangered Species Act protection is necessary for the species, said Erin Robertson, senior staff biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems in Denver.
FWS agreed in the settlement to overturn a politically motivated decision denying white-tailed prairie dog consideration as an endangered species, Robertson said.
A coalition of environmental organizations, including the Center for Native Ecosystems, sued FWS in U.S. District Court in Denver last fall over its action in the case (Clair Johson, Billings Gazette, Feb. 28). -- PR
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