Conservation groups submitted formal comments today to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arguing that the agency should update its protections for lynx to include those inhabiting New Mexico.  Although the lynx is protected under the Endangered Species Act, the agency contends that protection for the reclusive native cat ends at the border between Colorado and New Mexico.  As a result of a eight-year reintroduction effort, lynx once again inhabit much of their historic range in the Southern Rocky Mountains extending from the Medicine Bow range of southern Wyoming to the southern end of the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges near Sante Fe.  More than 200 lynx have been released and more than 100 lynx kittens born in the wild since Colorado began the program in 1999.  Although lynx are doing well, their recovery is hampered by the Forest Service's and Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to protect key habitat from development.