I would like to save the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). Lynx are rarely seen since they are nocturnal animals that hunt between dusk and dawn.

This medium-sized cat is 31 to 40 inches long and weighs approximately 35 pounds. The lynx has thick soft fur that insulates it from the cold. Lynx have long tufts of hair on their ear tips which act like sensitive antennae enhancing its hearing. Large heavily furred feet help the lynx to travel on top of the snow like snowshoes. Lynx are solitary animals except during the breeding season in late February and March. Dens are located in hollow logs, dense thickets and other sheltered places. They have one litter of one to four kittens that are born between May and June. Their main source of food is the snowshoe hare. The lynx population fluctuates with the hare population; as the hare population increases/decreases about every 10 years, so does the lynx population. Lynx will also eat red squirrels, mice, voles, birds, deer, and the remains of various dead animals when needed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Canada lynx as a threatened species on March 24, 2000. Lynx are mostly found in Alaska and Canada, but a few are still found in New England and across the northern parts of New York, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Some populations remain scattered across the Northwest and Rocky Mountains, in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. In the Rocky Mountains, lynx are found in high elevation conifer forests with many hollow trees, downed logs, swamps and thickets. Most of this habitat is located on public land.

Many factors affect the lynx population. When fur prices reached $600 each in the 1970s and 80s, the trapping of lynx increased. Today, the major threat to lynx is the loss of prime habitat from logging, home building, mining, ski areas, road building, and other human disturbances in high-elevation forests. Secondly, trails associated with snowmobiles and ATVs are being constructed in the high elevation habitats occupied by lynx. The noise and human disturbance associated with riding these machines in lynx habitat often displaces the animals from these areas. Also, the snowmobile tracks make it easier for coyotes, mountain lions, wolves and other predators to access lynx habitats that they normally wouldn't due to the deep snow. This is increasing lynx mortality.

My management plan to save the lynx would be to stop allowing homes, ski areas, mines, timber harvesting and roads from being built in the high elevation habitat where lynx are known to live. Also, I would close snowmobile and ATV trails in lynx habitat. And thirdly, I would change the Mining Laws of 1872, so that old mining claims are not logged, or developed into home sites or ski areas. Changing the mining laws and the way these high-elevation lynx habitats are managed could save more animals than just the Canada lynx and keep habitats from being fragmented and destroyed.