March 4, 2003 Agonizing, Inhospitable Homecoming of Lynx to Colorado

By Mindy Sink

DENVER, March 3 —

he next batch of lynxes is expected to be released in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests here in Colorado this spring. If they knew what they faced, they might not want to come.

     Life has not been easy for the lynx here. By 1973, it had disappeared. In 1999, lynxes trapped in Canada and Alaska were released here, only to find an unduly harsh environment. Four of the first five died of starvation; a fifth was found emaciated.

     Of the 96 lynxes brought to southwestern Colorado so far, 43 are known to be dead and 34 are still tracked by radio collars. Researchers say 53 could still be alive. Over all, nine have died of starvation, six were killed by vehicles, six were shot and killed and some died of unknown causes.

     In addition, the lynxes do not appear to be reproducing.

     Despite a recent legal challenge to the release program, state officials are proceeding with a $2 million plan to reintroduce 180 more lynxes over the next five years.

     The Mountain States Legal Foundation, which says it is "dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property," says that additional lynxes could interfere with human use of forests.

     It is suing the Department of the Interior, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Division of Wildlife to halt the introduction of more lynxes until a study shows how the lynx will affect human use of the land.

     "Everyone knows where the lynx are going to live, and that's in the forests, national forests," said William Perry Pendley, president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation. "If there is somebody that has cattle or sheep that graze on national forest then they can't come in anymore. Or outfitters can't use the area anymore."

     He said he was concerned that if lynxes were in the forests, there would be a resistance to thinning timber. "Last summer we had the worst fire season in Colorado history," he said. "Those fires destroyed tourism and wiped out homes."

     The lawsuit says that more lynxes in and near national forests would mean less timber harvesting and an increased risk of fire.

     "I don't think there is any factual basis to the suit," said Greg Walcher, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. "We're working very closely with the users of public lands."

     The first four years of the program cost more than $1.5 million, from lottery proceeds, a state income tax checkoff donation program and private money. The state Division of Wildlife is relying on those sources again, plus a promised donation of $500,000 by the Colorado Wildlife Foundation over two years.

     "Nobody's done a successful reintroduction program with lynx before," said Rick Kahn, wildlife management supervisor for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "We wish we had a clear cookbook we could follow and be more assured of success. Unfortunately, we use what we can, and that's adaptive management." Some critics of the program agree that significant improvements have been based on early mistakes. For example, the lynxes are now brought to a private center in Del Norte, Colo., where they are fattened for a few months before release, reducing chances of starvation. The primary food source for the Canada lynx is the snowshoe hare. Researchers in Colorado have noticed that the lynxes are also eating other prey, perhaps because the hares are not as plentiful here.

     "I think it's still not very clear that there is enough food," said Dr. Marc Bekoff, a biology professor at the University of Colorado and a critic of the program. "Is there really enough habitat to put this large number of animals out there and to ensure they won't just move because of increased competition for food? Is more better?"

     Tanya Shenk, a wildlife researcher who tracks the animals near Creede, Colo., in the winter, said she was working on a hypothesis that having more lynxes would increase their mating chances. "There are so few animals right now that their social structure seems unstable," Ms. Shenk said. "That may be one reason why reproduction is breaking down." Lynxes are known to be solitary territorial carnivores, unlike wolves.

     Ms. Shenk said there was "circumstantial evidence" of mating, like male and female lynxes tracked together and copulation beds, but no sign of kittens yet.

     The Canadian lynx was listed by the federal government as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2000, but many environmentalists said the cats needed to be listed as endangered, and Defenders of Wildlife sued over the listing status.

     A federal district judge, Gladys Kessler, ruled this winter that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect the lynx adequately.

     "It's strictly a biological determination," said Diane Katzenberger, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood, Colo. "They are not on the brink of extinction at all." Ms. Katzenberger said that because northern lynx populations were reproducing, the species was not considered endangered, but the judge agreed with Defenders of Wildlife that the agency had not fully studied three areas where the lynx population was not thriving, including Colorado.

     Judge Kessler also found that the Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to designate critical habitat for the lynx and now must do so.

     All parties agree that this region was always the southern edge of the lynx habitat, so the question remains, Who or what benefits from returning the lynx?

     "I think the position we're trying to take is that we want to get back something that was extirpated, most probably by human factors," said Ms. Shenk, the wildlife researcher. "To bring something back to the ecosystem."

     But Jacob Smith, executive director of the Center for Native Ecosystems in Paonia, Colo., also supports turning the clock back. "The lynx are an essential part of the wilderness we once had," he said.