Modeling habitat potential for Canada lynx in Michigan

In the ruling to list Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) as a federally threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) identified the Great Lakes region as an area that historically contained lynx and, hence, could potentially contribute to population recovery.More recent critical habitat designations by the USFWS only recognize Minnesota, USA as important to recovery in the Great Lakes. Although there is no current evidence of a resident lynx population in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, USA, trapping and track records over the past century suggest the region was periodically invaded after lynx population irruptions in Canada. In support of state and federal agency efforts in Michigan to provide and conserve lynx habitat, we quantified habitat potential using a spatially explicit, landscape-level model based on relationships among lynx, their primary prey, snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), and vegetation attributes. Outputs from the model indicated that habitat in the UP supports low hare densities (