Jumping Mouse Delisted

By Michelle Dynes, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

Jul. 10–CHEYENNE — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday the removal of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from protection under the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming.

The agency also amended the listing to indicate that the mouse remains threatened in Colorado.

The move is based on new information detailing regional population distributions and threats, said Steve Guertin, director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mountain-Prairie region during a

telephone news conference. He added that this does not mean officials won’t reconsider the decision in the future.

But at this point, the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse population in Wyoming does not face the same risks as mice in Colorado.

“The current and future impacts seem limited (in Wyoming),” he said.

Agriculture dominates the state’s landscape and promotes the endangered species to thrive. A slow human population growth also helps. And new information indicates that the jumping mouse has a wider habitat range than predicted when it was first listed, including sites within Laramie, Albany, Platte and Converse counties.

“There really was a lack of knowledge in 1998,” said Pete Plage, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Colorado field office of the initial endangered listing.

But Front Range development to the south is altering, fragmenting and destroying critical habitat, Guertin said. This includes water development, highway construction and recreation, as well as urbanization. The threat of extinction increases within the Colorado portion of the animal’s range, which stretches from the foothills of southeastern Wyoming to the eastern edge of Colorado. It inhabits well-developed plains and grasslands with a nearby water source.

The Preble’s mouse is a small rodent with a long tail, large hind feet and long hind legs. It has a distinct dark, broad stripe that runs from head to tail and can jump up to three feet to escape predators. Its geographic isolation from other subspecies of meadow jumping mice allowed it to develop genetic differences and qualify as a valid subspecies, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Guertin said the next step is to work toward population recovery and delisting in Colorado.

But reactions in Wyoming were mixed.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal said removing the Preble’s indicates the state’s proactive effort to gather genetic and population data.

“The history of the Preble’s mouse underscores the importance of collecting information and doing research before listing petitions are filed,” he said.

Erik Molvar, executive director and wildlife biologist for the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, disagreed. He said the decision violates the Endangered Species Act, which calls for species protection across its entire range. The Conservation Alliance and other conservation groups will challenge the delisting, which is based on political boundaries instead of science, Molvar said.

“When a mouse is on the verge of extinction in Colorado it doesn’t make sense to strip away its strongholds in Wyoming,” he added.

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