Land and Resource Management Plan Direction for Canada Lynx in
Colorado and Southern Wyoming
[Federal Register: June 30, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 127)]
[Notices]
[Page 40601-40606]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30jn00-37]
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[[Page 40601]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Land and Resource Management Plan Direction for Canada Lynx in
Colorado and Southern Wyoming
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement
in conjunction with amendments to land and resource management plans
for the Routt National Forest; Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests;
Pike and San Isabel National Forests; the Sun Juan National Forest;
Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests; and the Rio
Grande National Forest located in the State of Colorado; and the
Medicine Bow National Forest located in the State of Wyoming. The
environmental impact statement will also evaluate proposed management
direction pertaining to Canada lynx for the draft revised land and
resource management plan for the White River National Forest, located
in the State of Colorado. This notice replaces the notice of March 28,
2000 titled Land and Resource Management Plan Amendments for Canada
Lynx in Colorado and Southern Wyoming.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to part 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
219.10(g), the Regional Forester for the Rocky Mountain Region gives
notice of the agency's intent to prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) in conjunction with the establishment of new management
direction for the Canada lynx on National Forests in Colorado and
Wyoming. On the basis of new information regarding lynx biology
developed since the issuance of the land and resource management plans
(hereafter referred to as Forest Plans or Plans) mentioned above, the
Forest Service has identified a need to update management direction.
This notice describes a proposal to change Forest Plans to the extent
necessary to respond to recommendations in the Canada Lynx Conservation
Assessment and Strategy (LCAS) and other new information regarding the
Canada lynx and its habitat.
This new management direction will be established by amending the
Land and Resource Management Plans for the Routt National Forest;
Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests; Pike and San Isabel National
Forests; the San Juan National Forest; Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and
Gunnison National Forests; the Rio Grande National Forest, and the
Medicine Bow National Forest. The White River National Forest will
include lynx management direction in its final revised forest plan
scheduled to be completed in May 2001. However, the proposed lynx
management direction for the White River will be described and analyzed
in this EIS in order (1) properly evaluate cumulative environmental
effects, (2) adequately disclose such effects to the public, and (3)
provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed
direction. The analysis of effects relating to the White River National
Forest will be incorporated into the FEIS for that Forest's Revised
Land and Resource Management Plan.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be
postmarked by August 14, 2000. The agency expects to file a draft
environmental impact statement with the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and make it available for public, agency, and tribal government
comment in the fall of 2000. A final environmental impact statement is
expected to be filed in early 2001.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Chris Liggett, Team Leader, Lynx
Plan Amendment Team, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, PO Box
25127, Lakewood, Colorado 80225-0127.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Liggett, Team Leader, (303) 275-
5158.
RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: Lyle Laverty, Rocky Mountain Regional Forester,
P.O. Box 25127, Lakewood, CO 80225-0127.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Regional Forester gives notice that the
Rocky Mountain Region of the USDA Forest Service is beginning an
environmental analysis and decision-making process for this proposed
action so that interested or affected people can participate in the
analysis and contribute to the final decision. The Forest Service is
seeking information, comments, and assistance from individuals,
organizations, tribal governments, and federal, state, and local
agencies who are interested in or may be affected by the proposed
action (36 CFR 219.6). The public is invited to help identify issues
and define the range of alternatives to be considered in the
environmental impact statement. The range of alternatives to be
considered in the DEIS will be based on issues and specific decisions
to be made. Written comments identifying issues for analysis and the
range of alternatives are encouraged.
Proposed Action
The proposed action has two parts: the first is to amend Forest
Plans for the Routt National Forest; Arapaho and Roosevelt National
Forests; Pike and San Isabel National Forests; the San Juan National
Forest; Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests; the Rio
Grande National Forest, and the Medicine Bow National Forest to, as
necessary, establish or revise goals, objectives, standards,
guidelines, and monitoring requirements that respond to recommendations
contained in the LCAS and other new information regarding the lynx and
its habitat. The decision to be made regarding this part of the
proposed action is how to amend the Forest Plans listed above to
incorporate the new direction regarding lynx, if at all.
The second part of the proposed action is to describe and evaluate
management direction for lynx in relation to the draft revised Forest
Plan for the White River National Forest. A final decision regarding
the adoption of that direction will be made when the Record of Decision
is issued for the White River's Revised Land and Resource Management
Plan. That decision is expected in the spring of 2001.
Attachment 1 displays that key LCAS recommendations phrased in
terms of goals, standards, and guidelines that will be considered as
part of the environmental analysis process. Note that existing and
proposed Forest Plans may already contain some direction that is
essentially the same as the LCAS recommendations. Each plan will be
[[Page 40602]]
changed only to the extent necessary to appropriately respond to the
LCAS recommendations and other new information.
A range of alternatives that respond to issues developed during
scoping will be considered when assessing the proposed action. A
reasonable range of alternatives will be evaluated and reasons will be
given for eliminating some alternatives from detailed study, if that
occurs. A ``no-action alternative'' is required, meaning that new
management direction for the Canada lynx would not be established in
Forest Plans.
Purpose and Need
The purpose and need for this proposal is to establish Forest Plan
management direction designed to respond to the recommendations in the
LCAS and other new information concerning the lynx and its habitat.
This proposal is limited to the National Forests in the Rocky Mountain
Region and Southern Rocky Mountain Geographic Area that have lynx
habitat (see list above).
The Secretary of Interior listed the Canada lynx as a threatened
species on March 24, 2000. That decision took effect 30 days after
publication, on April 24, 2000. A key finding of the listing decision
is that ``the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms,
specifically the lack of guidance for conservation of lynx in Federal
land management plans'' (Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife
Service, 50 CFR part 17, Determination of Threatened Status for the
Contiguous U.S. Distinct Population Segment of the Canada Lynx and
Related Rule, p. 147) has contributed to the species' decline. When a
species is listed, section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act
requires Federal agencies to ensure that activities they authorize,
fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence
of the species or destroy or adversely modify its critical habitat.
This action is also needed to assure that land and resource
management plans are in compliance with species viability requirements
in the planning regulations that implement the National Forest
Management Act. The Rocky Mountain Region has identified the lynx as a
sensitive species, it is listed by the State of Colorado as an
endangered species, and the State of Wyoming lists the lynx as a
``protected animal'', meaning it is protected from take.
A large amount of new information about the lynx has become
available in the past two years. Key elements of this new information
to be considered include: (1) The LCAS; (2) a compendium and
interpretation of current scientific knowledge in ``Ecology and
Conservation of Lynx in the United States, published in October 1999;
(3) the Canada Lynx Conservation Agreement, prepared in February 2000
and signed by the Forest Service Regional Foresters and Fish and
Wildlife Service Regional Directors responsible for the geographic
areas within the range of the lynx in the conterminous United States;
(4) the release of lynx in Colorado by the Colorado Division of
Wildlife; and (5) the decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,
effective April 24, 2000, to list the lynx as a threatened species in
the conterminous United States, under the provisions of the Endangered
Species Act. This information has provided a better understanding of
the lynx, its prey base and habitat requirements, particularly the
forest communities it uses and the ecology of those forests, and risk
factors affecting lynx productivity, mortality, and movements. Forest
Plans in the Region were largely developed before issues regarding the
lynx were identified and without the benefit of the new information on
the lynx and its habitat.''
Public Participation
The first formal opportunity to comment took place during the
initial scoping process (40 CFR 1501.7) which began with the issuance
of the original notice of intent on March 28, 2000, and ended on May
11, 2000. The issuance of this revised notice marks the beginning of a
new scoping period, which will end on August 14, 2000. The purpose of
this scoping period is to solicit comments on issues relating to the
addition of the White River National Forest to the proposed action and
environmental analysis, and the effect that may have on any or all of
the Forests listed in this notice. Comments submitted during the
original scoping period do not need to be resubmitted.
Public participation will be solicited with news releases or by
notifying people in person or by mail. All comments, including the
names and addresses when provided, are placed in the record and are
available for public inspection and copying at the Forest Service
Regional Office. Persons wishing to inspect the comments are encouraged
to call ahead (303-275-5103) to facilitate entrance into the building.
The Forest Service will work with tribal governments to address
issues concerning Indian tribal self-government and sovereignty,
natural and cultural resources held in trust, Indian tribal treaty and
Executive order rights, and any issues that significantly or uniquely
affect their communities.
Preliminary Issues
Some preliminary issues have already been identified and are listed
below. These issues apply only to National Forest System lands on the
units listed previously in this notice.
The adoption of new Forest Plan goals, objectives,
standards, guidelines and monitoring requirements (hereafter referred
to as ``management direction'') is expected to maintain or enhance
habitat conditions for the lynx on National Forest lands. Project
implementation is expected to facilitate the development of landscape
and site characteristics suitable for lynx and its principal prey, the
snowshoe hare.
The adoption of new management direction may affect the
areas where winter and summer recreation take place and how and when
these activities are conducted. Activities like cross country skiing,
snowmobiling, off-road vehicle use and developed recreation facilities
could be affected. New direction could also affect ski area operations
and expansions.
The adoption of new management direction may affect the
ability to use roads and trails, the construction of roads and trails
and the closure or decommissioning of roads and trails. This
potentially influences activities like recreational use, oil and gas
leasing, mineral development or other uses associated with Forest
Service roads and trails.
The adoption of new management direction may affect timber
harvest practices in order to protect lynx denning sites and foraging
areas or to minimize disturbance in key habitat linkage areas. New plan
direction may also affect the type of harvest or the timing of harvest
in order to preserve or enhance the habitat of the snowshoe hare, a key
prey species.
The adoption of new management direction may affect
livestock grazing by requiring that vegetation conditions be maintained
to support lynx prey species.
The Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region is the lead agency. No
joint lead agencies have been identified at this time. The Forest
Service will continue to cooperate with other federal and state
agencies as this action proceeds. There are no permits or licenses
required to implement the proposed action.
Release and Review of the EIS
The Forest Service expects the DEIS to be filed with the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to be
[[Page 40603]]
available for public, agency, and tribal government comment in the fall
of 2000. At that time, the EPA will publish a notice of availability
for the DEIS in the Federal Register. The comment period on the DEIS
will be 45 days from the date the EPA publishes the notice of
availability in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. First, potential
reviewers of the DEIS must participate in the environmental review of
the proposal, including this initial scoping period, in such a way that
their participation is meaningful and alerts an agency to the
reviewer's position and contentions; Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.
v. NRDC [435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978)]. Also, environmental objections that
could be raised at the DEIS stage but are not raised until after
completion of the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) may be
waived or dismissed by the courts; City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc., v. Harris,
490 F.Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court
rulings, it is very important that those interested in this proposed
action participate throughout the process, so that substantive comments
and objections are made available to the Forest Service at a time when
it can meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the FEIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns relating to the proposed actions, comments on the DEIS,
when it becomes available, should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the DEIS or
the merits of the alternatives formulated and discussed in the
statements. In addressing these points, reviewers may wish to refer to
the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40
CFR 1503.3. After the comment period on the DEIS ends, comments will be
analyzed, considered, and responded to by the Forest Service in
preparing the Final EIS. The FEIS is scheduled to be completed in early
2001. The responsible official will consider the comments, responses,
environmental consequences discussed in the FEIS, and applicable laws,
regulations and policies in making decisions regarding these
amendments.
The FEIS will be the basis for one or more decisions regarding
Forest Plans within the range of the Canada lynx in the Southern
Rockies geographic area. The responsible official will decide whether
or not to implement management direction for the lynx in Forest Plans
for the Routt National Forest; Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests;
Pike and San Isabel National Forests; the San Juan National Forest;
Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests; the Rio Grande
National Forest, and the Medicine Bow National Forest. The responsible
official will document these decisions and reasons for the decisions in
one or more Records of Decision. The decisions will be subject to
appeal in accordance with 36 CFR 215 in accordance with 36 CFR 217
depending on whether the amendments are significant under the National
Forest Management Act requirements at 36 CFR 219.10(f). In addition,
the Rocky Mountain Regional Forester will make a separate decision
regarding revision of the Forest Plan for the White River National
Forest, and document it in another Record of Decision. That decision
will be based primarily on the FEIS for the revised White River Land
and Resource Management Plan, but will also utilize information
contained in this FEIS.
Dated: June 26, 2000.
Lyle Laverty,
Regional Forester, Rocky Mountain Region, U.S. Forest Service.
Attachment 1--Key Recommendations of the LCAS, Phrased in Terms of
Potential Goals, Standards, and Guidelines
Goals, Standards, and Guidelines
The goals, standards, and guidelines generally apply only to lynx
habitat within a Lynx Analysis Unit. Lynx habitat occurs in mesic
coniferous forests that have cold, snowy winters and provide a prey
base of snowshoe hare. Lynx habitat is a mosaic within the Engelmann
spruce, subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, aspen, mesic Douglas-fir and
mesic white fir forested landscapes, generally between 8,000 and 12,000
feet. High elevation sagebrush and mountain shrub communities found
adjacent to or intermixed with the forest communities may be
potentially important as habitat for alternative prey species.
Category: Physical
Water and Aquatic Resources--Riparian Areas and Wetlands
Standard:
Refer to:
Range, standard #1.
Category: Biological
Range
Goals:
1. Mange grazing to maintain or move toward the composition and
structure of native plant communities within lynx habitat and adjacent
shrub-steppe habitats.
Standards:
1. Within lynx habitat, manage livestock grazing in riparian areas
and willow carrs to maintain or achieve mid-seral or later condition to
provide cover and forage for lynx prey species.
2. Delay livestock use in post-fire and post-harvest created
openings until successful regeneration of the shrub and tree components
occurs.
Guidelines:
1. Ensure that ungulate grazing does not impede the development of
snowshoe hare habitat in natural or created openings within lynx
habitat.
2. Manage grazing in aspen stands to ensure sprouting and sprout
survival sufficient to perpetuate the long-term viability of the
clones.
3. Maintain or achieve mid-seral or higher condition in shrub-
steppe habitat that is within the elevational range of forested lynx
habitat or that provides landscape connectivity between blocks of
primary lynx habitat.
Silviculture
Goals:
1. Design regeneration harvest, planting, and thinning to develop
characteristics suitable for lynx and snowshoe hare habitat.
2. Maintain suitable acres or lynx habitat and juxtaposition of
habitat through time when planning timber sales and related activities.
Standards:
1. Pre-commercial thinning will be allowed only when stands no
longer provide snowshoe hare habitat (e.g., self-pruning processes have
eliminated snowshoe hare cover and forage availability during winter
conditions with average snowpack).
2. In aspen stands within lynx habitat, favor regeneration of
aspen.
3. Following a disturbance such as blowdown, fires, insects, and
disease, where lynx denning habitat is less than 10% of a Lynx Analysis
Unit, do not salvage harvest when the affected area is smaller than 5
acres if it could contribute to lynx denning habitat. (Exceptions are
developed recreation sites or other sites of high human concentration.)
Where larger areas are affected, retain a minimum of 10% of the
affected area per Lynx Analysis Unit in patches of at least 5 acres to
provide future denning habitat. In such areas,
[[Page 40604]]
defer or modify management activities that would prevent development or
maintenance of lynx foraging habitat.
Also refer to:
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Lynx
Analysis Units, standards 1 and 2.
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Denning and
Foraging Habitat, standard #1.
Travelways, standard #1.
Guidelines:
1. Management activities retain adequate amounts of coarse woody
debris for lynx and snowshoe hare cover, if it exists on site.
2. Commercial thinning projects shall maintain or enhance lynx
habitat.
3. Design vegetation management activities that consider retaining
or encouraging tree species composition and structure that will provide
habitat for red squirrels or other lynx alternate prey species.
Also refer to:
Range, guideline #2.
Threatened, Endangered, Sensitive Species, Denning and
Foraging Habitat, guideline #1.
Fire, guidelines 4 and 7.
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species
Lynx Analysis Units
Goals:
1. Maintain effectiveness of lynx habitat. (Effectiveness is
primarily affected by high level of human use.)
Standards:
1. If more than 30% of the lynx habitat in a Lynx Analysis Unit
(LAU) is currently in unsuitable condition, no further reduction of
suitable habitat shall occur as a result of vegetation management
activities.
2. Vegetation management shall not change more than 15 percent of
lynx habitat within a LAU to unsuitable condition within a 10-year
period.
Denning and Foraging Habitat
Goal:
1. Provide a landscape with interconnected blocks of high quality
foraging and denning habitat that allows lynx movement between these
habitats.
Standard:
1. Within a Lynx Analysis Unit, maintain denning habitat on at
least 10% of the area that is capable of producing stands with
characteristics suitable for denning habitat. Denning habitat should be
well distributed, in patches generally larger than 5 acres. This
applies to vegetation treatment, timber harvest, prescribed fire, fire
suppression actions, and other similar activities.
Guidelines:
1. In areas where future denning habitat is desired, or to extend
the production of snowshoe hare foraging habitat where forage quality
and quantity is declining due to plant succession, consider improvement
of habitat through activities such as commercial thinning and selection
harvesting. Use harvesting and thinning to retain and recruit
understories of small diameter conifers and shrubs preferred by hares
and to retain and recruit coarse woody debris.
2. Maintain or improve the juxtaposition of denning to foraging
habitat. This can be important in large wildfire events in late seral.
3. Design vegetation and fire management activities to retain or
restore lynx denning habitat on landscapes with the highest probability
of escaping stand-replacing fire events.
Connectivity and Fragmentation
Goals:
1. Maintain and, where necessary and feasible, restore lynx habitat
connectivity across forested landscapes and within and between Lynx
Analysis Units. Facilitate wildlife movement within key linkage areas
considering highway crossing structures when feasible.
2. Within Lynx Analysis Units that have been fragmented by past
management activities that reduced the quality of lynx habitat,
management practices will be implemented to move toward forest
composition, structure and patterns more similar to those that would
have occurred under historical conditions and natural disturbance
processes.
Predation/Competition
Goal:
1. Avoid management practices that would increase competition with
and predation on lynx
Prey Species:
Goals:
1. Reduce incidental harm or capture of lynx during predator
control activities and ensure retention of adequate prey base.
2. Retain and enhance existing habitat conditions for important
lynx prey species and alternate prey species, such as the red squirrel.
Category: Disturbance Processes
Fire
Goal:
1. Restore fire as an ecological process through time and use fire
as a tool to maintain, enhance, or restore lynx habitat.
Standards:
Refer to:
Silviculture, standard #3.
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Lynx
Analysis Units, standards 1 and 2.
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Denning and
Foraging Habitat, standard #1.
Guidelines:
1. Consider prescriptions that can result in regeneration and the
creation of snowshoe hare habitat when developing burn prescriptions,
especially for lodgepole pine and aspen.
2. Design burn prescriptions to promote response by shrub and tree
species that are favored by snowshoe hare.
3. Consider the need for pre-treatment of fuels before conducting
management ignitions.
4. In lynx habitat, avoid constructing permanent firebreaks on
ridges or saddles.
5. Minimize construction of temporary roads and machine fire lines
to the extent possible during fire suppression activities in lynx
habitat.
6. In the event of a large wildfire in stands that were formally
late seral, during the post-disturbance assessment prior to restoration
or salvage harvesting, evaluate the potential for providing for lynx
denning and foraging habitat.
Also refer to:
Silviculture, guideline #3.
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Denning and
Foraging Habitat, guidelines 2 and 3.
Category: Social
Recreation--Developed Recreation
Standard:
1. Locate new or relocated trails, roads, and ski lift termini to
direct winter use away from diurnal security habitat.
2. Protect key linkage areas when planning new or expanding
recreational developments.
Guidelines:
1. Provide adequately sized coniferous inter-trail islands,
including the retention of coarse woody material, to maintain snowshoe
hare habitat when designing ski area expansions.
2. Identify and protect potential lynx security habitats in and
around proposed developments or expansions.
3. Evaluate, and adjust as necessary, ski operations in expanded or
newly developed areas to provide nocturnal foraging opportunities for
lynx in a manner consistent with operational needs, especially in
landscapes where lynx habitat occurs as narrow bands of coniferous
forest across the mountain slopes.
[[Page 40605]]
Recreation--Dispersed Recreation
Standards:
1. Allow no net increase in groomed or designated over-the-snow
routes and designated snowmobile play areas by Lynx Analysis Units
unless the designation serves to consolidate unregulated use and
improves lynx habitat. Winter logging activity would be an exception.
Guidelines:
1. Limit or discourage activities that result in snow compaction in
areas where it is shown to compromise lynx habitat. Such actions should
be undertaken on a priority basis considering habitat function and
importance.
Also refer to:
Travelways, guidelines 3 and 4.
Category: Administrative
Infrastructure--Travelways
Standard:
1. Close temporary roads constructed for timber sale activities in
lynx habitat to public use during the winter.
Guidelines:
1. Design new roads that could impact lynx habitat, especially the
entrance, for effective closure and subsequent decommissioning, if it
meets overall management objectives.
2. Minimize roadside brushing on low speed, low volume roads in
order to provide snowshoe hare habitat.
3. Locate trails and roads away from forested stringers to avoid
fragmentation.
4. Minimize creation of permanent travelways on ridgetops and
saddles that could facilitate increased access by lynx competitors in
lynx habitat.
Real Estate--Land Adjustments
Goal:
1. Retain key wildlife linkage areas on National Forest System
lands in public ownership. Cooperate with other ownerships to establish
unified management direction via habitat conservation plans,
conservation easements or agreements, and land acquisition.
Special Uses
Goal:
1. Design activities and facilities to minimize impacts on lynx
habitat.
Standard:
1. Restrict authorized use under permits to designated routes when
in lynx habitat on projects where over-snow access is required. Close
newly constructed roads to public access during project activities.
Upon project completion, evaluate the need to reclaim these roads.
Guideline:
1. Encourage remote monitoring of sites that are located in lynx
habitat, so that they do not have to be visited daily.
Transportation and Utility Corridors
Goals:
1. Reduce the potential for lynx mortality related to highways.
2. Work cooperatively with the Federal Highway Administration and
State Departments of Transportation to address the movement needs of
lynx.
Standard:
Maintain connectivity of lynx habitat during the planning for
highway rights-of-ways, construction, reconstruction, and other
possible transportation corridors.
GLOSSARY
Fragmentation--Human alteration of natural landscape patterns,
resulting in reduction of total area, increased isolation of patches,
and reduced connectivity between patches of natural vegetation.
Highway--A road that is at least 2 lanes wide, paved with asphalt
or concrete. Average daily traffic may exceed 5,000 vehicles and speeds
are 45 mph or greater.
Key Linkage Areas--Critical areas for lynx habitat. Usually, the
factors that place connectivity at risk are highways or private land
developments. Special management emphasis is recommended to maintain or
increase the permeability of key linkage areas.
Lynx Analysis Unit (LAU)--The LAU is a project analysis unit upon
which direct, indirect, and cumulative effects analyses are performed.
LAU boundaries should remain constant to facilitate planning and allow
effective monitoring of habitat changes over time. an area of at least
the size used by an individual lynx, about 25-50 square miles in
contiguous habitat (should be larger in less contiguous, poorer
quality, or naturally fragmented habitat.
Lynx Denning Habitat--Habitat used during parturition and rearing
of young until they are mobile. The common component appears to be
large amounts of coarse woody debris, either down logs or root wads.
The coarse woody debris provides escape and thermal cover for kittens.
Denning habitat may be found either in older mature forest of conifer
or mixed conifer/deciduous types, or in regenerating stands (greater
than 20 years since disturbance). Denning habitat must be located
within daily travel distance of foraging habitat.
Lynx Diurnal Security Habitat--In lynx habitat, areas that provide
secure winter daytime bedding sites for lynx in highly disturbed
landscapes, e.g., large developed winter recreational sites or areas of
concentrated winter recreational use. It is presumed that lynx may be
able to adapt to the presence of regular and concentrated human use
during winter, so long as other critical habitat needs are being met,
and security habitat blocks are present and adequately distributed in
such disturbed landscapes. Security habitat will provide lynx the
ability to retreat from human disturbance during winter daytime hours,
emerging at dusk to hunt when most human activity ceases. Security
habitats will generally be sites that naturally discourage winter human
activity because of extensive forest floor structure, or stand
conditions that otherwise make human access difficult, and should be
protected to the degree necessary. Security habitats are likely to be
most effective if they are sufficiently large to provide effective
visual and acoustic insulation from winter human activity and to easily
allow movement away from infrequent human intrusion. These winter
habitats must be distributed such that they are in proximity to
foraging habitat.
Lynx Foraging Habitat--Habitat that supports primary prey (snowshoe
hare) and/or important alternate prey (especially red squirrels) that
are available to lynx. The highest quality snowshoe hare habitats are
those that support a high density of young trees or shrubs (greater
than 4,500 stems or branches per acre), tall enough to protrude above
the snow. These conditions may occur in early successional stands
following some type of disturbance, or in older forests with a
substantial understory of shrubs and young conifer trees. Coarse wood
debris, especially in early successional stages (created by harvest
regeneration units and large fires), provides important cover for
snowshoe hares and other prey. Red squirrel densities tend to be
highest in mature cone-bearing forests with substantial quantities of
coarse woody debris.
Lynx Habitat--Lynx occur in mesic coniferous forest that have cold,
snowy winters and provide a prey base of snowshoe hare. Lynx records
occur predominantly in lodgepole pine, subalphine fir, Engelmann
spruce, and aspen vegetation cover types on subalpine fir habitat types
in the western United States. Cool, moist Double-fir, grand fir, or
western larch forest, where they are interspersed with subalphine
forests, also provide habitat for lynx.
Primary Lynx Habitat--Habitat that must be present to support
foraging, denning, and rearing of young (in the
[[Page 40606]]
western U.S. primary habitat is lodgepole pine or subalphine fir
habitat types).
Secondary Lynx Habitat--Other vegetation types, when intermingled
with or immediately adjacent to primary habitat, that contribute to
lynx annual needs (cool/moist Douglas-fir habitat types adjacent to
primary habitat).
Unsuitable Habitat Condition--An area that is capable of producing
lynx foraging or denning habitat, but which currently does not have the
necessary vegetation composition, structure and/or denisyt ot support
lynx and snowshoe hare populations during all seasons. For example,
during the winter, vegetation must provide dense cover that extends
above (greater than 6 feet) the average snow depth. Timber harvest,
salvage harvest, commercial thinning, and prescribed fire may or may
not result in unsuitable habitat conditions.
Snowshow Hare Habitat--See foraging habitat.
[FR Doc. 00-16546 Filed 6-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-81-M
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