Deep in the heart of the North Maine Woods, between the Allagash Waterway and the St. John River, lies the small logging community of Clayton Lake. Through the graciousness of the landowners, Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) has based its field operations for the Department’s Canada lynx study at this site. This field station is more than a 60-mile drive from the nearest town in Maine, and more than half the drive is over unpaved, privately owned roads. Why are lynx so important that we travel so far to study them?

Lynx are widely distributed throughout the northern forests of Canada and Alaska, but only three of the lower 48 states are reported to have lynx populations: Washington, Montana, and Maine. The lynx was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in March 2000, following considerable debate over the status of lynx habitat in the northwestern states. However, little is known about the status, habitat requirements, and limiting factors of lynx in Maine and the northeastern United States. Most knowledge of lynx comes from studies that have been conducted in the core range of the species in Canada and Alaska. This lack of knowledge, and the threatened status of lynx, has the potential to affect forest practices and recreational use of forests where lynx are known to exist.

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