The lynx paradox

This week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Canada lynx was a candidate for delisting from the Endangered Species Act.

The rare cat was listed in 2000 and I remember at the time that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks thought the listing was unnecessary based on track surveys it did during the winter.

It even allowed for a limited trapping season for the big cats.

I can’t speak to whether the cats were abundant or not. I do know, however, that it’s been nearly 20 years since the cats were listed and the Service still hasn’t bothered to do any sort of in-depth research on cat populations.

And that’s what bothers me about the delisting proposal.

It looks to be built on flimsy science, at best. When grizzly bears were listed, the Service spent some cash, paid some people, got into the field, did a host of “hair trapping” of bears and was able to formulate a solid population estimate for the bears.

That study cost about $3 million. But that study used paid people in the field — trained biologists.

Since then, researchers have proven that animal studies can be done far more economically by using trained volunteers, “citizen scientists,” if you will. There’s a variety of ways to track lynx, but by using simple “bait stations” that cats rub on, is an effective way. Trained volunteers could also do track surveys and other observations.

These studies are relatively cheap — a few hundred thousand dollars, not millions. Most of the cost goes to analyzing the DNA data. There are a lot of people more than willing to get out into the woods for research, just look at the numerous citizen science efforts in Glacier Park.

Researchers in the Swan Valley have even piggy-backed efforts, tracking lynx and wolverines in the same study.

But the Service, at least to my knowledge, has never embraced a population-wide study of lynx. And that’s too bad.

Because now, I suspect, they’ll pay attorneys at least that much to defend themselves in court, and we’ll still have no solid, population-wide science on lynx.

Lynx and the public deserve better than that.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.