Lynx conservation fosters global connection

OVANDO - Eurasian Lynx research team "LIFE Lynx" members from Slovenia and Croatia visited the Blackfoot and Seeley-Swan Valleys Sept. 11-18. They compared their large carnivore research, investigated community forests and shared their research with area schools through the Blackfoot Challenge Education Committee.

The collaboration between LIFE Lynx and the Blackfoot Challenge began in 2015 when Executive Director Seth Wilson went to Slovenia for work on large carnivore projects. Wilson returned to Slovenia 2017 - 2019 when the LIFE Lynx project began. Wilson was previously coordinator for the Blackfoot Challenge Wildlife Committee, doing large carnivore work with bears and wolves. That work brought about the connection with LIFE Lynx.

"When Seth was working with us he helped us with the vision of working together with other agencies and the public," said Magda Sindicic, LIFE Lynx wildlife research and conservation teacher. "It's really special for us to see how the multidisciplinary approach has been done here, hands on."

According to LIFE Lynx team members, their country governments bring programs to the people and tell them how things will be done. Seeing the inclusive model of ideas coming from the ground up in the Blackfoot Valley, where communities are interested in how the land will be left to future generations and the public participates in decisions, is something they said they have learned on this trip.

The LIFE Lynx project began in Slovenia and Bosnia in 2017. LIFE Lynx project's primary objective is rescuing the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population from extinction and to preserve it in the long term, according to their website lifelynx.eu. Due to hunting, persecution through bounties, deforestation and habitat conversion by the early 1900's Eurasian Lynx were extinct throughout Western Europe. 

In the 1970s, Slovenian hunters saw the need for reintroduction of the native lynx and advocated for their return. In 1973 hunters arranged for the introduction of six lynx from the Carpathian Mountains because they see the lynx as an integral part of their natural environment.

The introduced lynx made themselves at home and spread to Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia) Italy and north to Austria. Unfortunately, the introduced lynx were a family group. Although they thrived, they became inbred. By 2010 scientists realized that without intervention, the inbred population would likely go extinct.

"That was the impetus that started conversations to bring lynx from Slovenia to Bosnia," said Maja Sever, Slovenian Forest Service member of LIFE Lynx. "Hunters in Slovenia and Croatia have a broad view of the ecosystem and a strong conservation ethic. They believe that the native brown bears, wolves and lynx all have a place in it."

Eurasian lynx mostly feed on Roe deer, a variety slightly smaller than white-tailed deer. Hunters know that lynx prey primarily on the weak and small deer. They know that someday if the population rebounds, lynx could become a trophy animal.

One of the hunting clubs in the Gorenjska region of Slovenia built an adaptation enclosure to quarantine lynx that are being introduced. Restoring the native lynx is the motivation for the hunting club's involvement, said the LIFE Lynx website. In addition the hunting club helps monitor camera traps and reports any DNA samples found in the area. 

Recently that hunting club was recognized by their municipality for its 77-year involvement with lynx conservation in the Alps and received an award for lynx reintroduction. The reintroduction of lynx to Slovenia is still considered one of the most successful efforts in the world to return lynx to the wild.

According to a camera trapping survey in Slovenia between 2021 and 2022 there are 30 adult lynx and five have produced 15 kittens, said LIFE Lynx website. Research indicates that up to 100 lynx could live successfully in the region.

 "Lynx have a very low predation rate on domestic livestock, mostly sheep and goats," said Ira Troplicanec, research veterinarian on the LIFE Lynx team. "Usually no more than once a year."

LIFE Lynx emphasizes community support to ensure broad public acceptance for restoring lynx to the area. Schools and students are involved in lynx releases, similar to the swan releases done by the Blackfoot Challenge in the Blackfoot valley. Students name the lynx and track their lives with help from LIFE Lynx.

"We put a lot of effort into making sure the average person knows about the lynx," said Troplicanec. "Yearly surveys are conducted to check public acceptance and understanding of the lynx. Public opinion is high that there should be more lynx in the area."

"We have had them share their lessons with us and then we've been sharing our lessons with them, " said Wilson. "We wanted them to see the Blackfoot Challenges approach to working with communities, meet our Board of Directors, see our projects and see what is going on with carnivore monitoring in the area." 

LIFE Lynx met with Swan Valley Connections (SVC) staff. SVC Conservation Director Luke Lamar shared SVC's Rare Carnivore Monitoring project where they documented Canadian Lynx and wolverines distribution and abundance over the past decade.

"They were a great group and really engaged in learning our field survey methodologies," Lamar said. "I was equally interested in learning from them and their methodologies. There are some differences there where they don't have reliable snow to conduct snow track surveys like we do, and their bears do not hibernate, so non-invasive bait stations are not an option."

During LIFE Lynx's visit to Seeley-Swan High School Wildlife Biology class, they shared their wildlife management, monitoring and history of the LIFE Lynx project with the students, said Mary Stone, Seeley Swan High School Wildlife Biology teacher. "It was a perfect fit for the students who just started studying population management and habitat."

"It's so great for our students to be able to connect with people who are in the field doing this kind of work," said Stone. "We really appreciate the work by Blackfoot Challenge to bring this research team to the high school."

"For myself, this was a really amazing trip, from the professional side, but also from the private side, to get to know the local people, the community and the way you live," said Sindicic. "It's been a very open, warm and welcoming community. We are all going home with a long list of ideas in our notebooks."

The trip was partially funded by Trust for Mutual Understanding to explore community-based approaches to carnivore conservation through the cultural exchange with Bosnia, Slovenia and the Blackfoot Challenge.