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This initial ruling by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the petition to list the lynx for Endangered Species Act protections was frustrating. On the one hand, the Service found that the lynx was very much threatened and that a listing was "warranted," assigning it the highest priority for protection. On the other hand, the Service ruled that a listing was "precluded" due to other priorities.

This finding was successfully challenged in court by a coalition of conservation groups nationwide, and the court ordered the Service to issue a listing proposal (see record, "USDI 1999").

Notable excerpts from the Finding:

"The Service has determined that the overall magnitude of all the threats to the small population of Canada lynx in the contiguous United States is high and that the threats are ongoing, thus they are imminent." (28657)

"cannot be assigned a priority higher than 3... [meaning] A population facing a high magnitude of immediate threat." (28657)

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