A federal court has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reevaluate its critical habitat designation for the Canada Lynx. The court found that the agency failed to protect habitat in Colorado essential for the animal’s recovery. This is the second time the court has rejected the agency’s arbitrary exclusion of lynx habitat in Colorado based on its own criteria.
Lynx populations remain threatened across the West, as the cats’ habitat comes under increasing threat from development, population pressures, and climate change. A small, but reproducing, lynx population exists throughout much of Colorado.
In response Doug Hayes, an attorney with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign issued the following statement.
“The court has again confirmed what common sense tells us—a full recovery of the Colorado lynx population requires protected habitat. The Fish and Wildlife Service cannot let the entire southern Rocky Mountain portion of the lynx range go unprotected if we are to see the survival, and ultimate recovery, of this amazing wild cat.
“As is too often the case with endangered species, the science is clear on what is needed to protect lynx. It just needs to be followed.”
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