The new regulations were implemented in order to decrease the chances of trapping or injuring a Canada lynx. The full text of the regulations can be found at http://www.maine.gov/ifw/pdfs/Trap%20regs%20clean%20version.pdf.
"As we continue to see Maine's lynx population grow and expand their range, we are amending our trapping regulations in order to decrease the probability of capturing a Canada lynx," said Jim Connolly, Director, IFW Bureau of Resource Management. "These are preventative measures born out of an abundance of caution."
The regulations were crafted after several meetings with members of the Maine Trappers Association and Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife staff. The proposed regulations went through a one month public comment period and two public hearings, one in Portland and one in Bangor. The new rules replace expired emergency rules which expired this past spring.
Included in the new regulations are:
Lynx exclusion devices are now required statewide on all body-gripping traps that are set on dry land.
In areas known to contain lynx (western, northern and eastern Maine), all foothold traps must be staked to the ground, and the area around the trap clear of rooted woody vegetation and debris.
All foothold traps set on dry land statewide must have three swiveling points, and the chain must be centrally mounted.
"While some of these regulations might be overly cautious in some parts of the state, we are implementing many of these statewide solely as a precaution, knowing that lynx are expanding their range in Maine and that they can travel great distances," said Connolly. One of the Department's GPS collared lynx travelled from an area northeast of Greenville east all the way to Fredericton, New Brunswick, before turning around and venturing back to the Greenville area, covering 481 miles from March through December.
While lynx are not on Maine's endangered or threatened list, lynx are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal to kill, trap, harm or harass any lynx in Maine. In order to allow Maine's trapping programs to continue, The Department worked with the USFWS to develop a lynx conservation plan that included an incidental take permit.
This permit allows for the accidental trapping of Canada lynx by trappers legally pursuing furbearers in Maine. The permit outlines specific protocols and mitigation measures for the incidental take of lynx that minimizes direct impacts to lynx while providing habitat that benefits species recovery.
Under the conditions set forth in the incidental take plan, if two lynx are killed by legally set traps, trapping rules will be modified to prevent the likelihood of another lynx being killed.
Last trapping season, two lynx were killed. These were the first lynx trapping deaths in six years in Maine. Statistics show that trapping is not a major factor impacting Maine's lynx population. Since 2009, there were 26 lynx killed by vehicles, and only 2 by trapping.
The department is also in the process of updating the state's lynx population estimate which was estimated conservatively at 750-1,000 back in 2006. Many factors, including lynx tracking surveys conducted last winter and confirmed lynx sightings indicate that Maine's lynx population is expanding into western and eastern range while remaining stable in their central core range of northern Maine.
In last year's lynx survey, IFW wildlife biologists surveyed 25 towns, and found lynx tracks in 20 of them.
The lynx survey also showed how lynx have expanded their range. Out of those 25 towns, 19 of the towns had been surveyed ten years earlier by IFW. Between 2003 – 2008, lynx were found in 11 of those 19 towns. Last year, lynx tracks were found in 18 of those same 19 towns.
IFW crews also surveyed six towns in 2015 that hadn't been previously surveyed because they were outside of the lynx historic range. Lynx were found in 2 out of the six towns.
These surveys are supported by other factors showing that lynx numbers are increasing such as increasing vehicle collisions, continued sightings of female lynx with kittens in the lynx core range as well as other areas.
A variety of factors are telling us that Maine's lynx population is growing and expanding their range," says Jen Vashon, Maine's lynx biologist, "And there is nothing to tell us the opposite."
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