Canada Lynx

Through habitat protection, forest restoration, and recovery partnerships, we are helping secure a future for lynx across their historic range in the North Cascades and northeast Washington.

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Our Approach

Now one of Washington’s rarest carnivores, the Canada lynx depends on reintroduction efforts and strengthened habitat protections to recover, and meaningful progress is beginning to take hold.

Once more widespread across the North Cascades and Kettle Range, the population has been pushed to the brink by uncharacteristic wildfire, warming winters, and the loss of dense, snow rich forests that support snowshoe hares—their primary prey. Recovery now depends on protecting and restoring these cold adapted habitats, reducing the risk of large stand replacing fires, and strengthening reintroduction and monitoring efforts.

Our work focuses on advancing science based forest practices, improving policy frameworks, and bolstering partner efforts to rebuild stable lynx populations. By securing conditions lynx need to survive and reproduce while supporting monitoring and reintroduction efforts, we can recover this cat to their native range.

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Current Focus

Work We’re Doing to Achieve Canada Lynx Goals

Habitat Protection

We advance Canada lynx recovery by protecting and restoring the high-elevation forests and habitat linkages the species needs to survive in Washington.

Our long-standing commitment began with the successful protection of 25,000 acres of prime lynx habitat in the Loomis Forest, now the Loomis Natural Resources Conservation Area. Today, we continue to support lynx by working to redirect logging away from critical habitat, strengthen connectivity between the North Cascades, Kettle Range, and Rocky Mountains, and maintain strong state and federal protections.

We also collaborate with Tribal partners, including the Colville Tribes, on efforts to restore lynx to the Kettle Range.

Recovery Monitoring

Our work includes engaging in forest planning, advocating for climate-resilient habitat management, and supporting cross-border coordination with British Columbia.

By helping secure and connect large blocks of cold forest habitat, we improve conditions for lynx movement, denning, and long-term persistence. We also monitor lynx presence through our Community Wildlife Monitoring Program, providing data that complements agency surveys and informs recovery strategies.

Through these combined efforts, we help ensure that Washington remains a stronghold for this rare and climate-sensitive species.

Impact & Results

A History of Canada Lynx

Canada lynx recovery is shaped by a combination of habitat protection, landscape connectivity, and long-term conservation planning. Understanding the species’ history and ecological needs helps guide efforts to ensure its future in Washington’s mountain forests.

A Threatened Species at the Edge of Its Range

The Habitat Conditions Lynx Need to Survive

Connectivity Is Essential for Long-Term Recovery

A Threatened Species at the Edge of Its Range

Canada lynx are federally listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and Washington sits at the southern edge of the species’ U.S. range, and holds some of the most important remaining habitat in the Lower 48.

The Habitat Conditions Lynx Need to Survive

Recovery depends on maintaining cold, high elevation forests with deep, persistent snow and healthy snowshoe hare populations, the ecological conditions lynx rely on for hunting and denning. Increasing wildfire severity, habitat fragmentation, and shifting forest structure in places like the Pasayten Wilderness, Loomis State Forest, and Kettle Range threaten the continuity of these habitats.

Connectivity Is Essential for Long-Term Recovery

Washington’s lynx population is small, isolated, and depends on strong habitat connectivity from the Cascades through the Okanogan Highlands to the Rockies, as well as ecological linkages to source populations in British Columbia that are essential for long term genetic exchange and recovery.

Impact & Results

Our Key Accomplishments for Canada Lynx

From protecting critical landscapes to advancing collaborative forest restoration, these efforts deliver lasting benefits for wildlife, habitat connectivity, and climate resilience.

Forest Stewardship

Advancing Science-Based Forest Management and Habitat Protection for Lynx Recovery

Advanced science based forest management and habitat protections across the Colville and Okanogan Wenatchee National Forests, working with the U.S. Forest Service and partners to maintain and restore high quality lynx habitat. This includes supporting research, camera monitoring, and collaboration with agencies and universities to improve understanding of lynx distribution, habitat use, and recovery needs—ensuring that forest practices align with the ecological conditions required for long term persistence.

Lynx Reintroduction

Supporting Lynx Translocation and Population Recovery in Northeast Washington

Supported a five-year lynx translocation effort led by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, helping relocate 46 lynx from southern British Columbia to release sites on Tribal lands in the Kettle Range. This work has re established a breeding lynx population in northeast Washington, with Tribal biologists confirming the first documented reproduction in the region in decades. With eastern Washington now repopulated, monitoring is underway to track movements and assess whether these animals follow the connectivity pathways restored between the Kettles, central Washington, and the Cascades to strengthen long term genetic diversity.

Lynx Facts

Key Facts About Canada Lynx and the Habitat They Depend On

Lynx are considered a boreal species. Lynx are specially adapted to the deep snows of northern forests, where their massive paws keep them afloat in their snowy open forest and boreal habitat.
Smaller than a cougar but bigger than a bobcat, Canada lynx have silvery fur and black ear tufts. Their tails are shorter than a bobcat’s!
Snowshoe hares, the lynx’s preferred food, thrive in the dense cover of a brushy forest understory. Lynx are adapted to the natural fire cycle of lodgepole pines. Fire opens the cones, which release seeds to create supple new shoots that feed snowshoe hares.
Lynx need older forests, with plenty of snags, downed logs and woody cover for hunting and denning.
Lynx are not particularly fast (it’s hard to hunt on snow!), so they have to be sneaky and lie in wait for their prey.