Canada Lynx - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The Canada lynx is found in northern forests across almost all of Canada and Alaska. It is, however, absent in the relatively treeless regions of the Great Plains and the northern coasts, which are outside the natural range of the snowshoe hare. Due to human activity, the Canada lynx is no longer found in Prince Edward Island or on the mainland of Nova Scotia, although there are two known areas of Canada lynx populations in the Cape Breton Highlands.

In addition there are large populations of this lynx in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon and a resident population exists in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming that extends into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Canada lynx is rare in Utah, Minnesota, and New England. The Canada lynx is a threatened species in the contiguous United States. It is also found in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming.

Starting in 1999, the Colorado Division of Wildlife began a program reintroducing a wild lynx population back to Colorado. While showing early signs of promise, biologists say it will take more than a decade to determine whether the program is a success. However, in 2006 the first case of a native-born Colorado lynx giving birth since 1999 was documented: it gave birth to two kittens, affirming the possibility of successful reintroduction. There were many successful kindles thereafter.

In 2007 several of these lynx were shot and killed by unknown persons. In some cases only the radio tracking collars were found, leading to suspicions of fur poaching, in other cases the animals were shot and the body left intact.

By 2010, after an 11 year effort, it had been successfully reintroduced into Colorado where it had become extinct in the 1970s. The initial introduction was in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado but self-sustaining populations were established throughout the south-central Colorado Rockies as far north as Summit County by 2010. In Colorado the red squirrel is an important secondary food source when snowshoe hares are scarce. Isolated individual lynx have wandered widely from the core area in the Southern Rockies where they were reintroduced resulting in observation of lynx introduced in Colorado as far away as Iowa, northern Idaho, and eastern Nevada. It was found helpful to rest and feed the animals well before releasing them in prime condition during the spring thaw.