The U.S. and Wildlife Service is hosting a public meeting on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at 7 p.m. in Bloomington to discuss the proposal to designate critical habitat for the Canada lynx, a federally threatened species. The meeting will be at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge visitors center at 3815 American Boulevard East in Bloomington.
At the meeting, Ron Moen, from the University of Minnesota/Natural Resources Research Institute, will present information on lynx habitat in Minnesota. Service representatives will provide an overview of the current proposal to include lands in Minnesota in the critical habitat designation for the lynx. A question-and-answer session will follow. Those wishing to offer comments on the proposal will be provided with comment forms and instructions.
The Service recently proposed to revise the amount of critical habitat designated under the Endangered Species Act for the Canada lynx. In total, the Service is proposing to designate approximately 42,753 square miles of habitat in portions of northern Maine, northeastern Minnesota, the Northern Rocky Mountains (northwestern Montana and northeastern Idaho), the Northern Cascades (north-central Washington), and the Greater Yellowstone Area (southwestern Montana and northwestern Wyoming).
In Minnesota, about 8,226 square miles are proposed in portions of Cook, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis Counties, and Superior National Forest. Of that total, about 5,378 square miles are federal or state lands.
Critical habitat is a term in the ESA that identifies geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protections. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge and has no impact on private landowners taking actions on their land that do not require federal funding or permits.
Federal agencies that undertake, fund or permit activities that may affect critical habitat are required to consult with the Service to ensure such actions do not adversely modify or destroy designated critical habitat.
More information on the Canada lynx and the critical habitat proposal is available at www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered For directions to the meeting, go to: http://www.fws.gov
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