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Colorado Legislature Adopts Resolution Urging Lynx Recovery Plan

The Colorado State Legislature on Friday adopted a joint resolution celebrating the ongoing recovery of lynx in the Southern Rocky Mountains and urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete a recovery plan for the lynx.

The Colorado State Legislature on Friday adopted a joint resolution celebrating the ongoing recovery of lynx in the Southern Rocky Mountains and urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete a recovery plan for the lynx. The resolution sends a clear signal to the Service: a lynx recovery plan is important and enjoys widespread political support. Since the program began in 1999, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has released more than 200 lynx in the state. More than 100 wild lynx kittens have been born and at least 93 adults now roam the region, which includes parts of New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

"The recovery of lynx to Colorado is a tremendous success story," said Rob Edward, Carnivore Recovery Director for Sinapu. "As long as we protect the habitat they need, lynx will thrive in Colorado for years to come."

As more lynx kittens are born in the wild and the adult survival rate remains high, attention is increasingly turning to ensuring long-term protection of important lynx habitat. The proposed construction of a 10,000-person city in a key lynx habitat linkage near Wolf Creek Pass underscores how quickly lynx habitat is being lost. A recovery plan would help identify how much habitat needs to be protected to make sure the lynx recovery program succeeds.

"A recovery plan serves as a road map," said Erin Robertson, Staff Biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems. "Without a recovery plan we don’t know what we need to do to recover the lynx."

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan for lynx would clearly identify the specific goals and steps required to achieve biological recovery of the lynx. The Endangered Species Act requires the Service to adopt recovery plans for all protected plants and wildlife. Despite this obligation, and despite the agency’s own policy of doing so within two and a half years of listing, six years after the lynx was listed as “threatened” there is no indication that a recovery plan is even underway.

"The Endangered Species Act has an exceptional record of success," explained Jacob Smith, Executive Director of Center for Native Ecosystems. "The problems mostly have to do with the agencies dragging their feet and Congress not giving them the funding they need."

Since President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of hundreds of native species. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data show that once a species is protected under the Act its likelihood of extinction plummets; the Act has a success rate of 99.3% at preventing the extinction of plants and wildlife once they are listed under the Act. In Colorado, the Act helped prevent the extinction of the black-footed ferret, greenback cutthroat trout, and the Colorado butterfly plant, and others. Because of the Act, many others are now on the path to recovery, including the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and the Canada lynx.

Both the State House and State Senate adopted the joint resolution. State Representative Judy Solano and State Senator Lois Tochtrop sponsored the resolution, and the impressive list of bipartisan cosponsors also included Representatives Kathleen Curry (D-Gunnison), Ray Rose (R-Montrose), Mark Larson (R-Cortez), and Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction).

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