Although lynx were never abundant in the United States, they probably did occur in most northern states and western mountainous areas as far south as Colorado. The lynx's gradual disappearance from the contiguous U.S. results from human activities that have compromised both the lynx and its habitat. In the nineteenth century, trapping put heavy pressure on the species. Now the cat's survival in the U.S. is primarily jeopardized by habitat destruction and forest fragmentation. Some significant factors include development, logging, and habitat destruction and fragmentation.
Forest destruction can remove the mature forest that the lynx needs for denning and rearing young.
These activities can also disrupt lynx travel patterns, as the cats prefer tree cover. Roads threaten the lynx by fragmenting its habitat, isolating lynx populations, exposing them to predators, and providing competitor species new access to habitat formerly dominated by the lynx. For example, snowmobile traffic may create trails that allow competitors like coyotes, wolves, and cougars access to lynx winter habitat. By the early 1990s, the Canada lynx was a clear candidate for ESA protection. In response to the lynx's plight, more than a dozen environmental groups petitioned FWS in 1991 to list lynx in the lower 48 states.