BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials finalized a recovery plan for imperiled populations of Canada lynx on Wednesday and proposed new habitat protections in the southern Rocky Mountains for the forest-dwelling wildcats threatened by climate change and human activities.
The fate of the plan is uncertain under President-elect Donald Trump: Officials during the Republican's first term sought unsuccessfully to strip lynx of protections that they've had since 2000 under the Endangered Species Act.
Almost 7,700 square miles (20,000 square miles) of forests and mountains in Colorado and northern New Mexico are covered under the habitat proposal. That's a change from previous U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policies that left out the southern Rockies and concentrated instead on recovery efforts elsewhere, including Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota and Maine.
“This is a significant change and a good one,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney for Western Environmental Law Center who has been involved in efforts to protect lynx through court actions. “They weren't really committing to conserve lynx in Colorado anymore, and now they are.”
Areas of protected habitat also are being added along the Idaho-Montana border. Protected areas in Wyoming would be sharply reduced under Wednesday's proposal.
Wildlife officials said they were removing some locations where officials consider lynx unlikely to thrive in the future, while adding new areas considered more suitable to their long-term survival.
Lynx are elusive animals that live in cold boreal forests and prey primarily on snowshoe hares. Climate change is melting away their snowy habitat and could decrease the availability of snowshoe hares.
As a result, declines for lynx are expected across the contiguous U.S. under even the most optimistic warming scenario that officials have considered.
There are roughly 1,100 lynx in the contiguous U.S., spread across five populations. The largest concentrations are in the northeastern U.S. and northern Rockies.
Those numbers are expected to plummet in some areas, and officials are aiming for a minimum contiguous U.S. population of a combined 875 lynx over a 20-year period across the five populations.
Most areas suitable for lynx are in Canada and Alaska, where the animals are widespread and hunting and trapping of them is allowed.
The changes announced Wednesday follow a 2016 court ruling that faulted federal wildlife officials for not designating protections for lynx habitat in Colorado and some parts of Montana and Idaho.
Habitat protections in Maine and Minnesota would remain unchanged under the proposal.
A final decision is expected next year.
FILE - A Canada lynx heads into the Rio Grande National Forest after being released near Creede, Colo., April 19, 2005. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Seattle (6-5) at New York Jets (3-8)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox.
BetMGM NFL odds: Seahawks by 2.
Against the spread: Seahawks 4-6-1; Jets 3-8.
Series record: Seahawks lead 13-8.
Last meeting: Seahawks beat Jets 23-6 in Seattle on Jan. 1, 2023.
Last week: Seahawks beat Cardinals 16-6; Jets had bye after losing to Colts 28-27 on Nov. 17.
Seahawks offense: overall (12), rush (28), pass (2), scoring (15).
Seahawks defense: overall (20), rush (23), pass (15t), scoring (14).
Jets offense: overall (27), rush (30), pass (18), scoring (27).
Jets defense: overall (8), rush (22), pass (2), scoring (13).
Turnover differential: Seahawks minus-6; Jets minus-3.
WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He has emerged as a key offensive option for Seattle in the past three weeks, with two games during which he had more than 100 yards receiving. He’ll have a challenge going up against the Jets stout pass defense, but he has the speed and route-running ability to break open a game.
QB Aaron Rodgers. The four-time MVP turns 41 on Monday and is coming off a disappointing performance in the loss to Indianapolis. He was 22 of 29 for 184 yards with two touchdown passes, but only 9 of 13 for 76 yards in a sluggish first half. Rodgers has been dealing with leg injuries for much of the season, but says he's feeling a lot better after the bye. His future with the team remains uncertain beyond this season. Rodgers said he hasn't decided if he'll play in 2025, but the Jets would be his first option if he does — and New York wants him.
Seahawks passing game vs. Jets secondary. Seattle ranks second in the NFL in passing offense with Geno Smith spreading the ball around to DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Smith-Njigba. New York has the No. 2-ranked passing defense, helped by a secondary that includes cornerbacks Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed and Michael Carter II. Those three should get tested early and often by Smith and the Seahawks.
Seahawks RG Anthony Bradford (ankle) will miss the game after getting injured last Sunday against Arizona. Rookie Christian Haynes filled in for Bradford and will compete with rookie Sataoa Laumea for the start this week. ... Jets RB Breece Hall sat out practice Wednesday with an injured knee and it’s uncertain if he’ll play. ... LT Tyron Smith remains sidelined with a neck injury and could land on the injured reserve list. ... LB C.J. Mosley was practicing this week after suffering a herniated disk in his neck that sidelined him the past four games.
The Seahawks have won the past five meetings with the Jets, who had previously won five in a row in the series. ... New York's most recent win over Seattle came at home at Giants Stadium on Dec. 19, 2004, when Curtis Martin ran for 134 yards and two scores and Santana Moss caught two TD passes from Chad Pennington. ... The Seahawks won the teams' first meeting 17-0 in New York in 1977 on two TD passes by Jim Zorn.
Seattle is 6-0 all time at MetLife Stadium: 4-0 vs. the Giants, 1-0 vs. the Jets and a Super Bowl victory over Denver in February 2014. ... The Seahawks are 18-7, including the playoffs, in the Eastern time zone since 2018. ... Since Week 9, Seattle’s defense ranks fourth in the NFL allowing 16.3 points per game and is fifth against the run by allowing 82.7 yard per game. ... The Seahawks, who are tied with Arizona atop the NFC West, need two victories to reach 400 regular-season wins. … Smith was a second-round pick of the Jets in 2013 out of West Virginia. He threw 28 TD passes with 36 interceptions in 33 games, including 30 starts, for New York over four seasons. ... Smith needs one 300-yard passing game to tie Russell Wilson for the most in a season in franchise history with five. ... Lockett needs two touchdowns to pass Marshawn Lynch for third on Seattle’s total TDs list with 67. He needs one 100-yard receiving game to tie Darrell Jackson for the second most in franchise history with 19. Lockett ranks second to Steve Largent in franchise history in receptions (650), yards receiving (8,489) and TD catches (61). ... Metcalf needs 13 yards receiving to pass Largent for the most in a player’s first six seasons in franchise history with 6,042. He also needs one TD catch to pass Largent for the most in a player’s first six seasons in franchise history with 47. Metcalf ranks first in franchise history for the most catches in that same span with 418. ... Smith-Njigba has tied his career high with four TD catches. He need 123 yards receiving to pass Largent (1984) for the most over a four-game span in a single season in franchise history with 490. ... The Seahawks held Cardinals RB James Conner to 8 yards rushing on seven carries last week, his lowest output since 2017. ... The Jets have lost seven of their past eight and are coming off their bye-week break, during which general manager Joe Douglas was fired. ... New York is 1-5 since Jeff Ulbrich took over as the interim coach in place of the fired Robert Saleh. ... The Jets' loss to the Colts marked the first time in franchise history they dropped a game in which they scored 25 or more points, had fewer than 15 yards in penalties and committed no turnovers, according to ESPN Research. ... Rodgers is having a subpar statistical season with 17 TDs and seven INTs, although he hasn't been picked off in his past four games. Rodgers hasn’t passed for 300 yards since throwing for 341 against Chicago on Dec. 12, 2021 — a span of 33 regular-season games and 34 overall, including one playoff game. It’s the third-longest drought in the past 20 years, trailing David Garrard’s 39 straight in 2005-08 and Alex Smith’s 35 from 2005-09. ... WR Garrett Wilson ranks fifth in the NFL with 69 receptions and is second in targets with 108. Of his 722 yards receiving, 47.2% have come after the catch — the fourth-highest rate among the league’s top 25 receivers in yards. ... WR Davante Adams has 26 catches on 46 targets for 278 yards and a TD in five games since being acquired from Las Vegas. ... Hall has nine games with 80 or more yards from scrimmage, tied with Philadelphia's Saquon Barkley and Green Bay's Josh Jacobs for the most in the NFL this season. ... DL Quinnen Williams has five or more sacks in each of his past five seasons, one of nine players to do so and the only interior defensive lineman to accomplish the feat. ... Anders Carlson, the Jets' fourth kicker in as many games, made both of his field-goal tries — including a career-best 58-yarder — and his three extra-point attempts in his debut for New York against Indianapolis.
Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III has just 95 yards and a TD on 30 carries in the past two games, but could be in for a bounce-back game against the Jets and their struggling run defense.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) tries to avoid a sack from Indianapolis Colts defensive end Kwity Paye (51) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
