The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is increasing protections for the threatened Canadian lynx, releasing its final 20-year recovery plan and proposing new habitat protections in several western states including Colorado. 

Canadian lynx have been listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2000. In Colorado, they have been listed as endangered since 1976, after the species disappeared from the state around 1973. 

The federal agency notes that the cat’s initial listing in 2000 was due to the inadequacy of regulations on federal public lands to protect lynx habitat from things like logging, recreation and more. According to the recovery plan, while these inadequacies have been “reduced,” both then and now, habitat loss — exacerbated by climate change — poses one of the greatest threats to the species. 

“The (U.S. Fish and Wildlife) Service and its lynx research and management partners have long recognized that projected global climate warming presents the greatest challenge to the long-term conservation of lynx and their boreal forest habitats in the contiguous United States,” reads the finalized lynx recovery plan. 

Climate-driven losses — including continued warming, decreases in the amount and duration of snow and increased wildfire risk — are likely to make lynx populations “smaller and more patchily distributed,” the plan adds. 

“Absent progress on reducing projected global warming trends, the long-term conservation of lynx in the contiguous United States remains uncertain,” it states.   

Colorado Parks and Wildlife began reintroduction efforts for the endangered cats in 1999. Between 1999 and 2006, 218 lynx were released in the San Juan Mountains. Today, there are an estimated 75 to 150 lynx in Colorado, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed habitat rule.  

Now, southwestern Colorado is home to one of five breeding populations of the cats in the country. Other breeding populations exist in northern Maine and northeastern New Hampshire; northeastern Minnesota; northwestern Montana and northern Idaho; and northcentral Washington. 

The plan for lynx and proposed habitat protections could face more intense scrutiny under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. In 2018 under the first Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began drafting a rule to remove the federal protections from lynx. 

However, the decision faced litigation from wildlife advocates, and following a settlement agreement in October 2021, the Fish and Wildlife Service shifted to crafting a recovery plan instead. The plan sets forth a 20-year action plan to maintain and recover the species. It also gives criteria that would need to be met to delist the species — one of which is reducing “permanent habitat loss” to no more than 5% over the next 20 years. 

As part of these efforts, the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing changes to the current critical habitat designation as required by a 2016 court order. This court order found that the agency’s 2014 critical habitat designations errored by not designating critical habitat in Colorado and in five National Forests in Idaho and Montana. 

Overall, the proposal would designate approximately 19,112 square miles across Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming as critical habitat. It does not impact habitat in Maine and Minnesota. The proposal updates the 2014 designation in the western United States by reducing areas where lynx are unlikely to thrive and adding new areas more suitable for their long-term success. 

In the region including Colorado and a portion of northern New Mexica, the proposed rule would designate 7,679 square miles as critical habitat across numerous counties in southwest and the central mountain region. This includes portions of Archuleta, Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Conejos, Dolores, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, Gunnison, Hinsdale, La Plata, Lake, Mineral, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Park, Pitkin, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, San Miguel, and Summit counties.  

Critical habitat is defined as areas that will support long-term occupancy and reproduction including features like adequate populations of snowshoe hairs, dense boreal and subalpine forests, extended winter conditions and more. 

With the rule proposed, it will now face a 60-day comment period ending on Jan. 28, 2025. After that, the federal agency will review and address any comments before issuing its final ruling.