LYNX HUNTING & DENNING HABITAT Swan Valley, MT

Julia Goodhart & Wes Holkeboer

ENV 463

April 13, 2016

Canada Lynx: Habitat Ecology

• Listed as Threatened in 2000; reliant on immigration from Canada

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Source: Nature Serve

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AMAJH03010

• 18-24 lbs
• Do not excavate their dens: Need mature mesic forests, where fallen trees create places for denning

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Connection to Snowshoe Hare: Hunting Habitat

• Primary prey; Lynx populations cycle with Snowshoe Hare
• Conifer forests, horizontal cover, dense understories
• Lynx hunting habitat based off snowshoe hare locations

What areas are especially valuable to lynx in the Swan Valley?

Data Sources

Montana Natural Heritage Program

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Criteria

Elevation: 1,200 - 2,100m

Precipitation: 39.37 - 50 inches annually

Canada Lynx Conservation Assessment And Strategy. January 2000. Pages 5-9, 44-47.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1196&context=usfwspubs

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Montana Field Guide: Lynx Canadensis

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AMAJH03010

Hunting Forest Types:

1. Harvested forest: shrub regeneration
2. Harvested forest: tree regeneration
3. Recently burned forest
4. Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest

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Denning Forest Types:

1. Rocky Mountain Subalpine Mesic Spruce-Fir Forest
2. Rocky Mountain Mesic Montane Mixed Conifer Forest
3. Aspen and Mixed Conifer Forest

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Denning

Area

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Intersection:

Elevation

Precipitation

Forest Type

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Tools:

Clip

Reclassify

Raster to Polygon

Select by Attribute

Intersect

Dissolve

Hunting

Area

Intersection:

Elevation

Precipitation

Forest Type

​

Tools:

Clip

Reclassify

Raster to Polygon

Select by Attribute

Intersect

Dissolve

Ideal: Areas where hunting and denning habitat are adjacent

Future Research

• Some characteristics difficult to find or quantify: Horizontal cover, canopy cover, relative age of forest stand
• Climate change
• Disturbance is an important part of the landscape
• 10-30 years following disturbance → Dense young growth, great hare habitat
• Fire data sporadic, annual updating needed

Conclusions

• Protection should be increased in lynx hunting and denning areas.
• At the same time, the landscape is dynamic: valuable habitat areas are constantly changing as a result of fire and other disturbance, and thus those areas must be regularly reevaluated.

Citations

1. Canada Lynx Conservation Assessment And Strategy. January 2000. Pages 5-9, 44-47.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1196&context=usfwspubs

2. Montana Field Guide: Lynx Canadensis

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AMAJH03010

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