Mouse’s Threatened Status Stands in Colo.: Biologists Deem Rodent ‘Distinct’ Subspecies
By R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Nov. 1–Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, a tiny species of rodent that lives only along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, will remain a threatened species in Colorado, but probably not in Wyoming.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this morning it is reversing a decision by a former administrator to remove the mouse from the list here. However, the agency proposes to remove it from federal protection in Wyoming, the other state it inhabits.
In making the decision, the agency dismissed claims by some scientists that the mouse is genetically no different from a common, nonthreatened mouse that dwells on the Front Range.
“Since the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse was first listed in 1998, our biologists have learned more about its distribution, biology, population status and the threats it faces. This proposal affirms that the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse is a distinct genetic subspecies and emphasizes protecting the species where it is truly at risk of becoming endangered,” said Steve Guertin, the service’s acting director for the Mountain-Prairie Region, in a news release.
The decision means the mouse will continue to impact development in El Paso County, particularly in the northern part of the county and around the Air Force Academy, where it has been found to live.
The Fish and Wildlife Service had been reviewing the decision of former deputy assistant secretary Julie MacDonald in 2005 to take the mouse off the threatened-species list. The shy, nocturnal mouse, which has a long tail and a dark stripe down the middle of its back, can leap 18 inches into the air. It was declared threatened in 1998, its habitat decimated by development on the Front Range.
Development was the main factor in the agency’s decision to remove federal protection in Wyoming but not in Colorado. Officials said projected human population increase along the Front Range here poses a threat to the mouse’s survival. The same threat does not exist in Wyoming, officials said.
Two public hearings are planned on the proposal. One will be Dec. 10 at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office in Lakewood, 134 Union Blvd., from 6 to 8 p.m., with an informational open house from 4 to 5 p.m. The other hearing is in Wyoming on Dec. 12.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.
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