State biologists are examining alarming changes within a small sample of Canada lynx which could signal wider declines in Maine’s population of the rare, federally protected cats.

Just two out of seven radio-collared female lynx bore kittens this spring. Last year’s reproduction rate was even worse, with only a single female out of eight bearing young.

“So we’ve had two years of low production when in the past about 90 percent of females produced a litter,” said Jennifer Vashon, a biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The declines in the study group come at a time of heightened attention to the lynx both in Maine and nationally.

DIF&W officials are considering scaling back funding for lynx tracking studies. And in Washington, federal officials are looking into whether politics played a role in a decision to exempt more than 16,000 square miles of potential lynx habitat in Maine and elsewhere from a special designation.

There are no solid numbers for Maine’s lynx population, although official estimates range from 200 to 500 Canada lynx in Maine. The cats, a threatened species, can grow to 25 pounds and have large, fur-covered feet which help them run and walk atop deep snow.

Biologists with both DIF&W and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are still studying the declines and what they mean. The big question, which Vashon said is unanswerable at this point, is whether similar declines are happening elsewhere in Maine’s North Woods.

“We have some concerns that in our study site that lynx are declining,” Vashon said.

Vashon said the lower reproduction rates in the study group in the Allagash region this and last year are puzzling. Biologists also found 30 percent of the lynx fitted with radio collars died from starvation or predation during the past year, compared with a typical loss rate of less than 20 percent, Vashon said.

One possible explanation for both the lower number of kittens and higher adult mortality, Vashon said, is an apparent decline in the population of snowshoe hare, the primary food source of the lynx.

Vashon said hares may be less abundant because of increased predation during the mild winter of 2005-06 and the fact that areas clear-cut 20 to 30 years ago – at the height of the spruce budworm outbreak – are maturing.

Lynx and snowshoe hares appear to thrive in former clear-cuts. What is unclear, Vashon said, is how lynx will fare in the partial harvests of timberland that are more common in the Maine woods today.

The state could see a population decline yet still maintain a stable, reproducing population, she said.

“I think what it does is provide us with an opportunity to learn how lynx respond to varying hare densities,” she said.

At the same time, the Canada lynx is part of a wider political controversy brewing in Washington.

Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced two weeks ago that they are revisiting a decision to exempt more than 10,000 square miles of private timberland in Maine from the agency’s “critical habitat” designation.

The reason: A former high-ranking political appointee at the Department of the Interior, Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, apparently became involved in the final decision. MacDonald is alleged to have pressured federal scientists to alter decisions on several species of endangered or threatened wildlife and released information to industry.

In the case of the lynx, MacDonald met with representatives of Plum Creek Timber Co. and the Maine Forest Products Council to discuss concerns that private landowners had with the critical habitat.

Critical habitat designation requires an extra layer of bureaucratic review on possible impacts to the species for any projects on federal land or projects that involve federal money or permits. Private landowners are only affected if they receive federal money or permits.

Lori Nordstrom, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who headed the lynx critical habitat process, said Washington staff directed the critical habitat review team to exempt Plum Creek after MacDonald met with the company. The team expanded the exemption to all private landowners to avoid treating one differently than the other.

Nordstrom, who like other Fish and Wildlife employees questions the usefulness of critical habitat designation, praised Plum Creek and other landowners for their willingness to give biologists access to land to study lynx. She and others hoped that by exempting their land, the timberland owners would be willing to maintain that cooperative relationship.

Nordstrom said she hopes that by revisiting the issue, the Fish and Wildlife Service can work with Plum Creek and other timberland owners to put in writing their management plans for lynx habitat.

“The concern was we never got anything in writing or any agreements done,” said Nordstrom, who recently took over as head of the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Old Town. “I think we would have been in a lot stronger position have we gotten something in writing.”

Luke Muzzy with Plum Creek said the company is already implementing lynx habitat management plans, which is why the company opposed the critical habitat designation. But the company is willing to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the issue.

“We welcome a review and will be pleased to participate in any science-based discussion on the matter,” Muzzy said.

Sally Stockwell, conservation director for Maine Audubon, said she hopes the private timberland is included this time because critical habitat designation underscores that habitat protections need to be taken seriously.

“Current [timber] practices are different now than they were in the 1980s, so there really are no guarantees that the habitat is going to be there for lynx going forward without a management plan being put in place,” Stockwell said.