How we're protecting lynx

Canada lynx is the rare one of three wild cats native to Washington. Conservation Northwest has a history of protecting lynx and lynx habitat.

• 1991 - Conservation Northwest submits the initial petition to list Canada lynx under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) denies the request.
  
• 1993 - Lynx are listed as threatened in Washington State.
• 1992 - We challenge the US Fish and Wildlife Service's denial of the federal ESA listing petition. A federal court agrees.
  
• 1994 - The agency finds lynx protection "warranted but precluded" [worthy but they refuse to list the lynx].
  
• 1996 - With allies, we file suit to challenge the agency's "warranted but precluded" listing determination. A federal court agrees.
  
• 1996 - At the state level, we intervene and prevail in a case brought by Okanogan County against Washington State which would have forced logging of key lynx habitat. 
  
• 1998-1999 - Conservation Northwest spearheads the Loomis Forest Campaign, and in a single year successfully raises $16.5 million from private individuals and foundations to protect 25,000 acres of the Loomis State Forest. Today these acres still serve as key habitat for Washington's most robust lynx population.
  
• 2000 - With allies, we challenge the USFWS for its failure to designate lynx critical habitat and list lynx as endangered. We win, and in 2000 lynx are listed under the ESA as a species threatened with extinction.
• 2004 - With allies, we filed suit over USFWS failure to comply with court order to designate lynx critical habitat. The courts agreed.
  
• 2006 - The agency publishes a critical habitat plan, which is scrapped by a federal judge for a process marred by political meddling during the Bush administration.
• 2008 - Objected and secured significant modifications to state timber sales in lynx habitat after underlying assumptions of lynx habitat plan for the area were obliterated by large fires. (The assumptions had been that federal lands would provide a significant amount of denning habitat, so state could have more "flex" in logging plans.)
• 2009 - A second critical habitat plan for lynx is introduced, designating parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Maine. The Kettle River Range in northeastern Washington's Columbia Highlands is not included, although biologists deem the Kettles habitat key to lynx recovery. With allies, we challenge the critical habitat plan for leaving the Kettles out of designation.
• 2010 - A federal judge faults the 2009 lynx critical habitat plan for not considering all areas and for improperly using reproductive success of lynx as a substitute to determine what areas of forest are needed to sustain the animal. The agency agrees to identify landscapes that include "physical and biological features essential to the species." That process of critical habitat designation is ongoing.