Getting your player ready...
The U.S. Forest Service has released a final environmental analysis and management plan for lynx in the southern Rockies.
The impact statement has been in the works for years and covers 14.6 million acres of national-forest land. A draft environmental review released in 2006 was criticized by environmentalists for allowing exemptions for logging and other activities they said would jeopardize the cat. The plan released Wednesday still allows some exceptions for logging to reduce wildfire risk. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has released more than 200 lynx from Canada and Alaska in the state since 1999 to restore the cat to Colorado.
The state’s native lynx disappeared in the early 1970s.
The Associated Press
