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In all cases, we recommend avoiding multiple fine-scale stratification rules, and
particularly rules not supported by scientific data. For instance, there is no evidence,
particularly in the summer, that lynx use specific topographic features preferentially.
Lynx telemetry locations are not found adjacent to creeks or on flatter topography more
than expectation within the study areas. Employing such rules in landscape
stratification radically reduces the ability to infer the sample to the landscape (because so
much of the landscape will be outside of the strata) without any direct evidence that the
rules will increase the sampling efficacy.
Working in conjunction with other survey efforts
Hair snagging can be used to compliment other survey methods, such as snow tracking.
For instance, if snow tracks were found in an area, particularly where lynx were thought
to be absent, then placing a grid across the area would potentially validate the snow
tracks. If individual DNA identification was performed on the samples, the addition of a
hair survey could provide information concerning the number of lynx in the area. Using
snow tracking as a pre-sampling method to determine grid placement in no way
invalidates the protocol. In many areas this is a very sensible approach.
Non representative placement of transects, or even individual scent stations can
sometimes provide useful information. For instance, if a lynx is known to exist within a
specific drainage, one might want to specifically sample the drainage to try to determine
whether the lynx is still present, or to obtain a sample of its DNA for research purposes.
Similarly, scent stations can be used as a double-sampling method to directly validate
snow tracks (as camera sets have been used in the past). These non-representative
surveys, however, are entirely exterior to the National Survey Protocol, and we are
doing no testing which can directly be used to indicate their efficacy. Additionally, as
mentioned above, these data are extremely limited in their utility. They cannot, for
instance, be used to infer anything about habitat relationships, the spatial extent of a
local population, or the absence of lynx within a specific area. We therefore strongly
recommend that these methods only be used to answer very specific questions in very
specific areas. In most cases, laying a grid of transects across an area of interest will
provide more usable information and is a better allocation of resources.
