Natural factors such as pine beetle destruction and fire pose more of a threat than humans to Canadian lynx habitat in Colorado — at least for now. 

Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the University of Wyoming recently published the results of a study that sought to better understand the habitat needs and threats of Canadian lynx. 

The study mapped lynx travel patterns and habitat in Colorado alongside various factors — natural and human-caused — that could impact the species. 

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“These findings refine our understanding of lynx habitat and help us focus conservation efforts where they are needed most,” stated Jake Ivan, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife research scientist, in a news release. 

Ivan — alongside John Squires and Lucretia Olson with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain research station, Peter McDonald of the Department’s Forest Service Rocky Mountain region and Joe Holbrook with the University of Wyoming — authored the report. 

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Lynx in Colorado

Colorado is home to a population of between 75 to 100 lynx following a successful reintroduction of the federally protected species that began in the 1990s. The state is home to one of five breeding populations of Canadian lynx in the country. 

Lynx are primarily found in the San Juan Mountains and Mosquito and Sawatch mountain ranges near Vail and Leadville, according to the study and Parks and Wildlife. 

The cats are drawn to snowy, dense forests in mid-range elevations that contain healthy populations of snowshoe hares and other prey. 

While habitat exists for the cat across western Colorado, the quality generally goes from “good to poor” from south to north, with the San Juans supporting the best habitat, according to the report. 

The report concluded that the majority (62%) of “likely” lynx habitat — that is land that “most likely” supports breeding populations of the cats — overlaps with protected areas. This includes Forest Service land, which accounted for 83% of this habitat, National Park Service land, wilderness areas and more. 

Habitat loss — alongside trapping and poisoning — led to the decimation of the lynx population in Colorado by the mid-1970s. Today, both the effects of climate change as well as human presence and development continue to provide concerns for the state’s lynx habitat. 

“As pressures mount on forested ecosystems, understanding the distribution, extent, and status of habitat refugia for species is fundamentally important for their continued existence with climate change,” reads the research report. “Canada lynx in the Southern Rockies provide a valuable case study of managing a sensitive species in landscapes that are increasingly structured by complex disturbance patterns accelerated by climate change.”

What is impacting lynx habitat? 

Between 2010 and 2013, researchers captured and collared lynx on and adjacent to the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area, in the Sawatch Range near Leadville and in the San Juans near Silverton and Telluride. This allowed them to track the cats’ movements and land use. 

The study then looked at how this habitat overlapped with “disturbance” factors such as persistent warming and drying leading to an increased risk of wildlife, outbreaks from tree-killing beetles, and expanding human footprints including the impacts of recreation like ski resorts and transportation. Overall, the study found that both natural and man-made disturbances overlapped with around 37% of the “likely” habitat. 

“Natural disturbance was the primary force impacting lynx habitat” during the research study. 

Most of these natural factors “have increased in impact, particularly in extent and severity, associated with climate change” in recent years, according to the report. 

“With current trends in temperature, precipitation, and drought linked to climate change, the main concern for lynx in the Southern Rockies is the persistence of these relatively few, and somewhat isolated, patches of habitat within a time window that is sufficient to have demographic, and thus, conservation consequences,” it stated. 

While the study concluded that pine-beetle outbreaks had the highest overlap with lynx habitat, it did little to impact the cats’ movements. 

“These landscapes still provide the forest structure necessary for continued occupancy,” the report stated. 

On the other hand, while documented fire events had the lowest overlap with lynx habitat, wildfire likely represents “the greatest threat to lynx habitat over a decades-long timeframe, given the current increase in fire size, severity and frequency from climate change,” the report concluded. 

Similarly, while human-caused disturbances — including ski resorts  — had low overlap with habitat and were generally avoided by lynx, the threat of further development could prove detrimental to the species. 

While natural disturbances can have long-term impacts on forests and lynx habitat, urbanization, new buildings and resort development all result in “permanent habitat loss,” the report states. 

Therefore Increased human density could threaten lynx connectivity and populations, particularly in “relatively low-elevation valleys that intersect patches of lynx habitat in the Southern Rockies,” it concludes.  

The report emphasizes that these findings can be used to guide management and conservation efforts to create and protect the best lynx habitat. This includes setting proper forest and fire management strategies that protect small, isolated areas that can support lynx long-term as climate change looms.  

Increasing federal protection

The research coincides with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s newly proposed habitat protections for Canadian lynx. Amid the threats to lynx habitat, the proposal would increase protections in all Western states where the cats live, including Colorado. 

Overall, the proposal would designate about 19,112 square miles across Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming as critical habitat. It updates a 2014 designation in the Western U.S. 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 Mexico, the proposed rule would designate 7,679 square miles as critical habitat across numerous counties in the 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.  

The proposal is over halfway through its 60-day public comment period ending Jan. 28. After that, the federal agency will review and address any comments before issuing its final ruling. 

However, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the future of lynx protections and this habitat designation is uncertain as during his first administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began drafting a rule to remove the federal protections for lynx.