Federal agencies at odds on lynx plan
By Theo Stein
A Forest Service lynx-protection plan that exempts energy and logging projects may actually prevent the predator's recovery in the southern Rockies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday.
Forest Service officials originally proposed a stronger conservation strategy developed by their lynx biologists. But they inserted exemptions for oil and gas development, energy-transmission lines and healthy-forest projects to comply with recent White House policy directives.
"They're proceeding with a project that, frankly, doesn't look like it has much to do with recovering lynx," said Brian Crowder of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which also panned the proposed lynx plan.
Colorado has invested millions of dollars to reintroduce the lynx in hopes of getting it off the endangered list.
State biologists have released 166 lynx since 1999 and have confirmed at least 29 lynx kittens, with more births expected this spring.
A USFWS spokeswoman said that if the Forest Service does not strengthen lynx protections, the federal wildlife agency will not consider lifting endangered-species protections for the lynx.
"When we listed the lynx, we said the main threat was inadequacy of regulatory mechanisms," USFWS spokeswoman Diane Katzenberger said.
She said her agency's concern is that the Forest Service is ignoring "their own lynx-conservation strategy."
If the current proposal is not strengthened, future ski-resort expansions, energy development, forest-thinning efforts and other projects may face delays while their impacts are analyzed, Katzenberger said.
State Division of Wildlife biologists asked for tighter scrutiny of ski-resort expansion and forest-road upgrades.
But officials from the state Department of Natural Resources argued that lynx are not bothered by ski resorts, saying that forest managers should be able to exempt road projects from lynx requirements when motorist safety is a concern.
EPA and USFWS officials have also criticized the Forest Service's decision to change lynx-protection standards, which must be followed, to guidelines, which forest managers can choose to ignore.
The lynx proposal, contained in a draft environmental impact statement released in January, will eventually become an amendment to the forest management plans that govern forest activities for 10 to 15 years.
It would apply to all U.S. forests in Colorado except for the White River National Forest.
By Theo Stein
A Forest Service lynx-protection plan that exempts energy and logging projects may actually prevent the predator's recovery in the southern Rockies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday.
Forest Service officials originally proposed a stronger conservation strategy developed by their lynx biologists. But they inserted exemptions for oil and gas development, energy-transmission lines and healthy-forest projects to comply with recent White House policy directives.
"They're proceeding with a project that, frankly, doesn't look like it has much to do with recovering lynx," said Brian Crowder of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which also panned the proposed lynx plan.
Colorado has invested millions of dollars to reintroduce the lynx in hopes of getting it off the endangered list.
State biologists have released 166 lynx since 1999 and have confirmed at least 29 lynx kittens, with more births expected this spring.
A USFWS spokeswoman said that if the Forest Service does not strengthen lynx protections, the federal wildlife agency will not consider lifting endangered-species protections for the lynx.
"When we listed the lynx, we said the main threat was inadequacy of regulatory mechanisms," USFWS spokeswoman Diane Katzenberger said.
She said her agency's concern is that the Forest Service is ignoring "their own lynx-conservation strategy."
If the current proposal is not strengthened, future ski-resort expansions, energy development, forest-thinning efforts and other projects may face delays while their impacts are analyzed, Katzenberger said.
State Division of Wildlife biologists asked for tighter scrutiny of ski-resort expansion and forest-road upgrades.
But officials from the state Department of Natural Resources argued that lynx are not bothered by ski resorts, saying that forest managers should be able to exempt road projects from lynx requirements when motorist safety is a concern.
EPA and USFWS officials have also criticized the Forest Service's decision to change lynx-protection standards, which must be followed, to guidelines, which forest managers can choose to ignore.
The lynx proposal, contained in a draft environmental impact statement released in January, will eventually become an amendment to the forest management plans that govern forest activities for 10 to 15 years.
It would apply to all U.S. forests in Colorado except for the White River National Forest.
