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In search of the elusive lynx Photo by Bob Pennell Applegate Ranger District biologist Mario Mamone demonstrates how lynx hair can be caught by roofing nails driven through carpeting that has been rubbed with beaver glands. Biologists hope to learn whether lynx are present in Southern Oregon by conducting DNA tests on the hairs left in makeshift traps such as these. Traps catch hair for analysis to tell if cat's in the area By PAUL FATTIG APPLEGATE DAM -- As traps go, it looks like something Rube Goldberg would have devised. Consider the aluminum pie plate and feather whipping in the wind from a fishing line tied to a tree limb. That's the visual lure. Nailed onto the trunk of the tree about 18 inches from the ground is a 4-inch-square piece of carpet bristling with the business end of a dozen roofing tacks. Add a liberal dose of catnip along with the potent odor of scent from beaver glands on the scratch pad for bait, and you have a trap to catch a Canada lynx. Hair of the lynx, that is. "We use the pie plate and feather blowing around in the wind to attract the lynx, which is a visual animal without a very good sense of smell," explained Mario Mamone, wildlife biologist for the Applegate Ranger District. "But the piece of carpet with the scent on it has a real strong odor," he added. "That odor attracts the animal and, hopefully, he will rub up against it." While they may look a little odd, the traps being put out by the Forest Service working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to survey for lynx in Oregon are effective, officials say. Last year, there were two lynx "hits" on similar traps left in the Deschutes National Forest. AP This Canada lynx is larger than its cousin, the bobcat. Hairs left from a lynx rubbing its furry cheeks on the scratch pad will be sent, along with the entire pad, to a research lab at the University of Montana in Missoula, where they will undergo DNA analysis. "The researchers there can actually determine what kind of hair it is," said Gail Rible, a wildlife biologist who works with Mamone. "Even if they have two different animals rubbing against the same carpet, they would know." The search for evidence of the seldom-seen cat is being conducted as part of the survey-and-manage requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan called for extensive surveys of lynx within the range of the northern spotted owl in Washington and Oregon as a first step in developing a conservation strategy for the cat. The plan concluded that lynx were at a "medium level" of risk because they were found primarily on public lands where loss of old-growth forests posed a long-term threat. The animal is proposed for listing as a threatened species on the federal Endangered Species List, Mamone said. The lynx survey and dozens of others required by the 1994 plan became more urgent when U.S. District Judge William Dwyer in Seattle blocked timber sales on 35 national forest tracts throughout the region last month. Ruling on a 1998 lawsuit by 13 environmental groups, Dwyer concluded that the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management had failed to fully follow a mandate to survey for 77 species of rare plants and wildlife. The decision affected timber sales in the Rogue River National Forest and the BLM's Medford District. Largely a nocturnal animal, lynx are rarely seen even in areas they are known to inhabit, Mamone said. Although they look similar to the bobcat, their more common cousin, a lynx is a little larger with bigger feet, he said. "We have anecdotal sightings of them in the area," Mamone said, noting that one of the district's biologists saw what he believes was a lynx in the early 1990s. There are also stories of lynx being trapped in the high mountains of the Rogue River forest early in the century, he said. The agencies employed global positioning technology in which images taken by satellites high above the earth are used to locate the likely spots for lynx hangouts. "We used it to identify the best denning habitat and the best foraging habitat," Mamone said. "For foraging, we wanted areas where snowshoe rabbits and squirrels live. That's their prey. For a den, they like old-growth forests with large snags and downed wood." All the sites are above 4,000 feet in elevation because lynx prefer the high mountains, he said. All but one of the eight lynx traps set out in August high in the mountains of the Applegate Ranger District have been gathered. Biologists have been unable to find the eighth trap, which they say could have been ravaged by a bear. Similar traps were also placed in remote high country sites in other local ranger districts. Of the traps retrieved so far, three had animal hair on them. Two appeared to have bear hair, but the hair of the third one is unknown, Mamone said. "We've gotten some hairs," he said. "Now we need to find out what they are." The results of the DNA tests are expected to be available later this fall. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA