Species Act. Currently, no 

 recovery plan for Canada lynx 

 exists. Several reports have 

 been written to summarize the 

 research on Canada lynx and 

 develop a conservation strategy 

 {Ruediger et al 2000) . 



Canada lynx are associated with 

 forests of subalpine fir, 

 generally between 4,000 to 7,000 

 feet in elevation, in western 

 Montana (J?uedigrer et al 2000) . 

 Lynx habitat in western Montana 

 consists primarily of young 

 coniferous forests with plentiful 

 snowshoe hares, stands with 

 abundant coarse woody debris for 

 denning and cover for kittens, 

 and densely forested cover for 

 travel and security. 

 Additionally, the mature forests 

 provide habitat for red 

 squirrels, an alternative prey 

 source. These conditions are 

 found in a variety of habitat 

 types, particularly within the 

 subalpine fir series (Pfister et 

 al 1977) . Canada lynx tracks and 

 observations are relatively rare 

 in Swan Valley, and radio - 

 collared lynx in the Seeley Lake 

 vicinity rarely venture north of 

 the Clearwater/Swan River divide 

 (J. Squires, personal 

 communication, USPS, September 5, 



2002) . 



n 



To assess Canada lynx habitat, 

 DNRC's SLI data were used to map 

 specific habitat classes used by 

 lynx; these areas were considered 

 lynx habitat. Any of these 

 habitats located on ungulate 

 winter ranges, as defined by 

 DFWP, were removed from 

 consideration of lynx habitat due 

 to low snow loads that allow use 

 of the area by many other 

 predators, such as coyotes and 

 mountain lions. These predators 

 are able to outcompete and prey 

 upon lynx. Other parameters 

 (stand age, canopy cover, amount 

 of coarse woody debris) were used 

 in modeling the availability of 

 specific types of lynx habitat in 



the area (i.e. denning, forage, 

 other, temporarily not 

 available) . 



• Young forage consisted of 

 regenerating stands that are 

 less than 39 years old and in a 

 well-stocked condition (more 

 than 1,500 trees per acre). 



• Mature forage included all 

 stands in lynx habitat that are 

 greater than 4 years old and 

 have more than 40 percent 

 canopy closure . 



• Denning habitat consisted of 

 mature stands (older than 100 

 years) that have more than 40 

 percent canopy closure and a 

 high abundance of coarse woody 

 debris . 



• Temporary unavailable habitat 

 included all stands with 

 regeneration less than 15 years 

 old, stands that received 

 precommercial thinning within 

 the last 10 years, and stands 

 with less than 40 percent 

 canopy closure. 



• General habitat included any 

 habitat of a suitable habitat 

 type with more than 40 percent 

 canopy cover that could be used 

 by lynx for travel or any other 

 purpose . 



Based on the above analysis, 

 Canada lynx habitat comprised 

 approximately 738 acres of 

 habitat on State lands within the 

 project area. All these acres of 

 habitat occur below 3,600 feet in 

 elevation. Of these acres, 126 

 acres of mature foraging, 52 

 acres of young foraging, 482 

 acres of general, and 78 acres of 

 temporarily unavailable lynx 

 habitats exist in the project 

 area. These areas are lower 

 elevation and on warmer and drier 

 sites than those typically used 

 by lynx {McKelvey et al 2000, 

 Squires 2000) . 



Cumulative effects were analyzed 

 for lands in the South Fork Lost 



Big Blowdown Salvage 



Page E-5 



