Six years had passed without a confirmed sighting of a Canada lynx in Vermont. That all changed Aug. 17.
Over the summer, several Rutland County residents spotted what the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department confirmed was a juvenile male Canada lynx. Since then, the department has confirmed more than 15 sightings of a Canada lynx moving through the state, suggesting Vermont’s conservation efforts were succeeding.
“The future presence of lynx in Vermont will depend on maintaining habitat connectivity between Vermont, New Hampshire, and Canada and mitigating the effects of climate change,” according to a report from the department in 2022.
Bree Furfey, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, said the state is employing a variety of conservation efforts to boost habitat for lynx and other native wildlife species. The efforts include conserving land to ensure habitat connectivity; enforcing regulations regarding trapping and hunting and monitoring the populations of both the predators that compete for resources with state endangered species like the Canada lynx and the prey that they eat.
“The (land conservation) pattern we’re maintaining is integral to all our species,” said Jens Hilke, a conservation planning biologist for the department. “It’s a matter of maintaining what we’ve got instead of building something new.”
Hilke pointed to Act 59, which was passed into law in June 2023, as critical to habitat conservation. It requires that by 2030, 30% of Vermont land be conserved, and by 2050, 50% conserved.
The first phase of Act 59 required gathering inventory of already conserved land in the state, which was completed in June. Trey Martin, the director of conservation and rural community development for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, is tracking work regarding Act 59. He said about 27% — 1,576,788 acres out of 5,889,121 acres — of Vermont land is currently conserved.
Under the law, conserved land means “permanently protected and meeting the definition of ecological reserve area, biodiversity conservation area, or natural resource management area.”
Martin said the law contemplates many different ways of conserving land, including state-conserved land, state and municipal parks and forests, private property that is designated as conserved land, and land owned by the state of Vermont or the federal government.
“The key is whether there is legal protection from conversion and whether the land fits into one of the statutory categories,” Martin wrote in an email.
Hilke said growing conserved land allows for maintaining habitat connectivity blocks. These connected segments of habitat allow wildlife to move on a daily or seasonal basis, depending on their needs.
Even though all of the confirmed sightings of Canada lynx in Vermont this year appeared to be of the same lynx, its ability to travel over 60 miles, from Rutland County into Addison County, indicated success in Vermont’s land conservation efforts, Furfey said in a press release.
Land conservation is also occurring with land use planning and regulation at the municipal level, Hilke said. He pointed to the town of Bolton as an example, where he assisted the town in 2022 when it rewrote zoning laws to help support wildlife movement.
The updated zoning in Bolton worked to limit sprawl development and bridge habitats by creating a north-south wildlife corridor to connect the central and northern Green Mountains.
“It’s the good stewardship of Vermonters for many years now that have gotten us this far,” Hilke said.
While a Canada lynx sighting in Vermont is already rare, seeing one in a southern region of the state — such as Rutland — is especially surprising, according to the press release. Most Canada lynx in Vermont are spotted in the Northeast Kingdom, where there is generally more snowpack and a greater population of snowshoe hare, a crucial prey species.
Both Furfey and Hilke pointed to climate change as having a potential negative impact on the presence of lynx in Vermont.
“With the climate change predictions of less snowpack, the question is how they will adapt to that, if at all. Deep snowpack is what gives them a competitive edge against bobcats, and bobcats are fairly abundant here,” Furfey wrote in an email. “If bobcat density increases in the areas where we would most expect lynx to be (in the Northeast kingdom) then we wouldn’t expect lynx to establish a breeding population there.”
The behavior of the male lynx spotted moving across Vermont suggested to Furfey that it seemed to be “dispersing” — or seeking to establish a territory of his own, leading him to travel long distances.
Lynx sightings tend to correlate with the snowshoe hare population, which is mostly abundant in Maine, according to Furfey. Vermont could see more dispersing lynx if hare populations are becoming smaller there, she said.
“While Vermont could support lynx, it is unlikely that VT will become part of their ‘core range’ due to climate change predictions,” Furfey wrote. “Their core range may continue to shift and follow snowshoe hare populations and hare density.”
The hare population fluctuates and typically leads to an “eruption year” about every 10 years when the hare population is significantly higher — leading to a greater likelihood for lynx sightings, specifically in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, according to Furfey.
“The last confirmed sightings we had in Vermont (prior to this summer) were in the 2014-17 seasons. So it could be that we see them again around the 10 year mark (2024-2027),” Furfey wrote.
The Canada lynx has been on the Vermont endangered species list since 1972 and is a federally threatened species in the U.S. Since they are protected, hunting or trapping lynx is not permitted.
“We want to see them be brought off the state endangered list,” said Furfey. “We’re trying to solve the puzzle of what we can do to improve their success.”
Furfey said the department is supporting Canada lynx in Vermont, but it will take more effort to sustain a population in Vermont. In addition to habitat connectivity, lynx need the ability to breed and hunt freely, she said.
“It would take a large breeding population that is sustained over time — so a consistent population that becomes a common occurrence in VT versus rare sightings as it is now,” Furfey wrote. “They need genetic connectivity, so ideally gene flow between populations would boost their chances of success.”
Boosting the lynx population in Vermont will require more hare. Furfey said Vermont does not currently have a large enough population to sustain a healthy lynx population.
“To sustain lynx populations, there is a certain amount of hare per hectare that must exist. Vermont is barely at that threshold,” Furfey wrote.
The history of the lynx population in Vermont is difficult to know, according to Furfey. She said historical records that do exist are from the fur trade, but there was no distinction made between the two species of wild cats in Vermont – the Canada lynx and the eastern bobcat.
Despite the challenges, Furfey said the department will continue seeking habitat improvements with the hope of growing the lynx population in Vermont.
“Never say never,” Furfey wrote. “We are constantly learning from wildlife and may not have all the answers.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Recent Canada lynx sightings point to success in Vermont’s conservation efforts .