Forest Service proposes gutting Lynx Protections -- attend a public meeting in your area during February and Submit Comments by April 15th.

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed dropping key lynx protections in an amendment to the Forest Plans of 18 National Forests and 4 BLM Units in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, & Utah. This proposed Forest Plan amendment flies in the face of recommendations made by its own biologists. Please help get this amendment back on track. Tell the Forest Service to protect lynx and their native habitat from to Utah to the Canadian border: attend a public meeting in your area during February and submit comments by April 15th.

Background
The lynx was listed as Threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in March of 2000. An interagency team of biologists developed a strategy to restore the lynx in the western U.S called the Lynx Conservation Assessment and Strategy, or "Lynx Strategy" for short. Now the Forest Service is proposing an amendment to update management plans throughout the region that would drop or severely weaken virtually all significant recommendations for restoring the lynx by its own biologists - recommendations regarding logging, fire suppression, snowmobiles, and grazing - to the point where the Forest Service's "preferred alternative" could aptly be named the "Why bother?" alternative!

What You Can Do
Please attend a public meeting and/or submit written comments demanding the Forest Service protect the lynx. Public meetings begin February 3rd throughout the region, (see schedule below). Written comments are due April 15.

Points to consider in your comments to the Forest Service:

1. If you are going amend the Forest Plan, do it right. The Forest Service's proposed amendment is only worthwhile if it significantly reforms forest management plans to protect lynx! Urge the Forest Service to: implement the biologists' Lynx Strategy in full (Alternative B), do not drop the recommended standards or weaken them to "guidelines," and close the catchall 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 proposed exemptions for wildfire fuel treatment projects is undefined, unjustified and threatens to undo all of the forest practice reforms necessary to restore and maintain lynx habitat. Exemptions for fire suppression activities are only appropriate within close proximity (500 yards) of human residences and other structures (which are generally not appropriate areas to restore lynx anyway).
3. Reinstate standards to protect forests, young and old, for lynx. No one disputes that the fate of the lynx is directly tied to their main prey, the snowshoe hare. Thinning forests is known to harm hares, yet it is proposed in the Forest Plan amendment. Lynx are also known to need secure denning habitat for raising their young, and sufficient forest cover to safely travel through their territory. Please reinstate the Lynx Strategy standards to maintain at least 10% lynx denning habitat, 70% of lynx habitat in "suitable" condition, and allow conversion of no more than 15% of lynx habitat to an "unsuitable" condition per decade.
4. Reinstate standards to protect lynx from snowmobiles. The Lynx Strategy recommends that snowmobile and other noisy, disruptive activities should be confined to designated routes and "play areas" that minimize their potential impacts on lynx. A non-binding guideline that future use not exceed "baseline areas of consistent snow compaction" is inadequate, because there may be many areas where existing use is harming lynx.
5. Reinstate standards to protect lynx from livestock grazing. The Lynx Strategy recommends that livestock should be managed in a manner that retains browse and cover for snowshoe hares. Please reinstate the grazing standards accordingly. Failure to implement standards may harm lynx populations.

Lynx Public Meetings Schedule

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 Office1405 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 Office1101 US Highway 2, West Libby, MT
• Feb 4 7:00-9:00 Hamilton Holiday Inn Express139 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 4th Avenue, Afton, WY
• Feb 4 6:30-8:30 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 Elementary School, 665 North Tyler, Pinedale, WY
• Feb 11 6:30-8:30 Marbleton Fire Hall, Hwy 189, Marbleton, WY
• Feb 12 6:30-8:30 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

Submit written comments by April 15 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:

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 - Tom Darin, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, 307-733-9417, tom@jhalliance.org
• UT - Mike Medberry, Western Wildlife Conservancy, 801-575-7107, mmed@mindspring.com

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