The good news is that Canada Lynx are thriving in Maine. Hundreds of the leggy, snow-loving cats are breeding in the state’s vast north woods, perhaps a historic high.
The bad news is that the population is headed for a crash, and logging industry clearcut practices seem to be the reason.
Strangely, it’s not an excess of clearcutting that is the problem; this time, it’s a lack of clearcutting that is creating environmental worries.
Thus begins a well-written news story by Murray Carpenter entitled: “Lynx and Logging Share Interests.” The piece ran in The Boston Globe and can be viewed online.
The story highlights the rise-fall nature of nature. Thirty years ago, massive industrial clearcuts, following a spruce budworm epidemic, changed the forest landscape in Maine. Today, this land has grown back into perfect hare – and lynx – habitat.
What complicates matters for the lynx is that the timber industry in Maine is shifting away from extensive clearcutting. As biologists ponder the future of the lynx, a lack of future early successional habitat, coupled with a warming climate, suggest to some that the lynx population isn’t viable over the long run.
To raise the stakes, the lynx is a federally endangered species, which brings national interest groups to the table, further complicating the debate.
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