The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is teaming up with local landowners in Maine to prevent a sharp population decline of Canada lynx by recreating enough of the animal's natural habitat in the state.

With tighter clear-cutting regulations in place and stretches of forests starting to mature, wildlife experts and local residents work hard to create large forest areas covered in fir and spruce for snowshoe hares, which are the natural prey of the lynx.

Scott Joachim, a forester involved in the restoration efforts, said that it is only a matter of providing the Canada lynx with the appropriate habitat to allow them to hunt and feed.

Maine has the largest population of Canada lynx in the contiguous United States with around 500 to 1,000 individual animals. This is considered to be an extraordinarily large population of the lynx, which many experts believe is the result of years of changes in their natural habitat caused in large part by an infestation of pests.

During the 1970s and 1980s, an infestation of spruce budworm placed large portions of forests in danger, prompting officials to conduct large-scale clear-cutting of trees. The remaining thickets of fir and spruce after the clear-cutting gave the population of snowshoe hares with an ideal habitat to live in.

Restrictions on clear-cutting activities, however, started were eventually tightened in 1989 following public outcry regarding decimated forests, allowing forests in the state to mature.

A decline in natural habitat could spell disaster for the Canada lynx and the snowshoe hare, which received its name from the animal's paws that resembled shovels. These paws give the hare the ability to glide over deep snow during winters.

Joachim pointed out that they are not managing for the Canada lynx, but they are managing for the snowshoe hares' habitat to allow their population to grow.

The University of Maine estimated that if local wildlife officials do not act now, Maine could lose as much as 60 percent of the habitat of snowshoe hares and around 60 percent its Canada lynx population within 14 years.

Experts from the federal government are now collecting the best science available on known threats to the Canada lynx and studying the future viability of the animal populations endemic to the Lower 48 states.

The government has already designated sections of different states as critical habitat for the lynx. These states include Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Washington and Wyoming.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region | Flickr