Wildfires have drastically reduced lynx habitat in Washington state

Wildfires have scorched around a third of Washington state’s Canada lynx habitat in the past two decades, dramatically cutting the region’s ability to support the felines.

Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), which can be identified by their black ear tufts and tail tip, once ranged across cold, snowy forests in North America. The stocky, short-tailed cats were heavily hunted for their pelts in the 1900s, but habitat and hunting protections in recent decades have supported the species’ …