[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16369-16373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7549]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Land and Resource Management Plan Amendments for Canada Lynx in 
Colorado and Southern Wyoming

AGENCY: USDA Forest Service.

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 San 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.

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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 in conjunction with the amendments of Land and Resource 
Management Plans (hereafter referred to as Forest Plans or Plans) for 
the National Forests listed above. The White River National Forest is 
not included in this proposed action because this unit will include 
lynx management direction in its final revised forest plan scheduled to 
be completed in May 2001.
    On the basis of new information regarding lynx biology developed 
since the issuance of the plans mentioned above, the Forest Service has 
identified a need to update management direction. This notice described 
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.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be 
postmarked by May 11, 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 summer of 2000. A final environmental impact statement 
is expected to be filed in early 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Howard Sargent, Team Leader, Lynx 
Plan Amendment Team, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, PO Box 
25127, Lakewood, Colorado, 80225-0127.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Sargent, Team Leader, (970) 
498-1201.

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 
enviromental 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 is to amend Forest Plans for the units listed 
previously in this notice to, as necessary, establish or revise goals, 
standards, and guidelines that respond to recommendations contained in 
the LCAS and other new information regarding the lynx and its habitat. 
The decision to be made is how to amend the Forest Plans to incorporate 
direction that responds to the LCAS recommendations and other new 
information regarding the lynx, if at all. Attachment 1 displays the 
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 Forest Plans may already contain 
some direction that is essentially the same as the LCAS 
recommendations. Each plan will be amended 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 amending the Forest Plans. 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 Forest Plans would 
not be amended.

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. This decision will take effect 30 days after 
publication. 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

[[Page 16370]]

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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
announced on March 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

    Public participation will be solicited with news releases or by 
notifying people in person or by mail. The first formal opportunity to 
comment is during the scoping process (40 CFR 1501.7) which begins with 
the issuance of this notice of intent. 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, standards and 
guidelines 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 Forest Plan goals, standards and 
guidelines 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 Forest Plan goals, standards and 
guidelines 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 Forest Plan goals, standards and 
guidelines 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 Forest Plan goals, standards and 
guidelines 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 available for public, 
agency, and tribal government comment in the summer 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 
reviewers'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 become 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 responsible official will document the decisions and 
reasons for the decisions in a Record of Decision. The decision will be 
subject to appeal in accordance with 36 CFR 215 or 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).


[[Page 16371]]


    Dated: March 22, 2000.
David A. Heerwagen,
Deputy Regional Forester, Rocky Mountain Region, USDA 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 mosiac within the Englemann 
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. 
Ponderosa pine is generally not considered lynx habitat.

Category: Physical

Water and Aquatic Resources--Riparian Areas and Wetlands

    Standard: Refer to: Range, standard #1.

Category: Biological

Range

    Goals: 1. Manage 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 of 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 continue 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, 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.

[[Page 16372]]

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 wildlife 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.

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 easement 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 Department of Transportation to address the movement needs of 
lynx.
    Standard: Maintain connectivity of lynx habitat during the planning 
for highway right-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

[[Page 16373]]

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 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 Forgaging 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, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, 
and aspen vegetation cover types on subalpine fir habitat types in the 
western United States. Cool, moist Douglas-fir, grand fir, or western 
larch forest, where they are interspersed with subalpine forest, also 
provide habitat for lynx.
    Primary Lynx Habitat--Habitat that must be present to support 
foraging, denning, and rearing of young (in the western U.S. primary 
habitat is lodgepole pine or subalpine 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 density to 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.
    Snowshoe Hare Habitat--See foraging habitat.

[FR Doc. 00-7549 Filed 3-27-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-81-M