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File Code: 2670
Date: November 13, 2003
Route To:
Subject: Lynx Linkage Areas
To: Marc Bosch, Forest Supervisors (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), Bureau of Land Management State Offices and Districts (CO, ID, MT, UT, WA, WY), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Regions 1, 3, 5, 6), Directors of Fish & Wildlife Agencies: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont,
In the Canada Lynx Conservation Agreements signed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February and August of 2000, respectively, the agencies agreed to identify lynx linkage areas. Lynx linkage areas are intended to maintain connectivity and allow for movement of animals between blocks of habitat that are otherwise separated by intervening non-habitat areas such as basins, valleys and agricultural lands, or where habitat naturally narrows due to topographic features. Interagency/intergovernmental meetings were held in the states of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado during 2001 and 2002 to identify and recommend the general locations of lynx linkage areas. Participants in these meetings included representatives from state wildlife agencies and state departments of forestry and transportation, and federal agencies including Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, tribal governments, private conservation groups, and others.
The U.S. Forest Service's Regional Offices in Missoula, MT, Ogden, UT, and Lakewood, CO assisted in setting up and facilitating these meetings, as well as digitizing the maps. Draft maps were sent out for review by affected agencies during June-July of 2002 for the Northern Rockies Geographic Area, and during October-November of 2002 for the Southern Rockies Geographic Area. The Lynx/Wolverine Steering Committee reviewed the maps at their October, 2002 meeting and gave their final approved at their November, 2003 meeting. The maps are now available for your consideration in land management and highway planning efforts, and Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultations.
The maps are available on the U.S. Forest Service Forest Carnivore website: <http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/wildlife/carnivore/>
The lynx linkage areas are coarsely mapped at a broad scale, and these maps should be considered a beginning point only. We expect to further refine their locations as more information becomes available, and as projects are proposed in these areas.
If you have any further questions, please contact Jim Claar (406-329-3664) or Tim Bertram (406-329-3611) in the Northern Regional Office in Missoula, or Nancy Warren (303-275-5064) in the Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Lakewood.
/s/ Kathleen A. McAllister
KATHLEEN A. MCALLISTER
Chairperson Lynx & Wolverine Steering Committee
Deputy Regional Forester
Hand drawn linkage areas were digitized in ArcMap as shapefile polygons.
These initial linkage areas were then sent out for review and changes were incorporated to arrive at the linkage areas defined in this data set