ENDANGERED SPECIES
MOUSE REMAINS PROTECTED IN STATE
Federal protection will not include Wyoming
BY R. SCOTT RAPPOLD THE GAZETTE
The Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, a rodent that lives in the path of development in Colorado’s fastest-growing areas, including northern El Paso County, will keep its federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. The announcement Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the last word — at least for now — in an odyssey for the shy mouse, which became a national focal point in the debate of endangered species protection. The decision changes nothing for developers and property owners here because the mouse has been listed as “threatened” since 1998, meaning building projects in mouse habitat must incorporate surveys for the mouse’s presence and include steps to avoid destroying its habitat. “Continued rapid development is expected along Colorado’s Front Range as (human) population continues to grow,” said Steve Guertin, the agency’s regional director, during a news conference. “Without protection of the Endangered Species Act, much of Preble’s habitat would be lost.” The mouse looks identical to the more common western jumping mouse, and only genetic testing can tell them apart. It is known to live only along the Front Range of Colorado and Wyoming, between elevations of about 4,650 and 7,600 feet above sea level. Northern El Paso County has some of the heaviest confirmed numbers, along Monument Creek and its tributaries and at the Air Force Academy. Wednesday’s decision reverses a 2005 effort to have it delisted in Colorado, an effort that was linked to Julie Mac-Donald, former deputy assistant secretary, who was accused of exercising
improper influence on it and seven other decisions having to do with the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service released its preliminary decision last fall, and since received 122 comments in writing and eight in person regarding the proposal. The agency said development pressures in Colorado pose a threat to the mouse, a threat that does not exist to a great degree in Wyoming. “New information indicates Preble’s population in Wyoming is much more widely distributed than we assumed at the time of listing,” Guertin said. Neither conservationists nor development interests were happy with the decision – the former because Wyoming was left out of the decision, meaning the mouse is not protected there, and the latter because agency scientists discounted a study that claimed the mouse is not a separate subspecies. “The jumping mice, the streams they call home, and other wildlife that depends on these healthy riparian areas will suffer from the service’s political pandering,” said Erin Robertson. biologist with the Center for Native Ecosystems in Denver. “It makes no sense for mice to lose protections once they jump across the state line.” “The Endangered Species Act is indelibly broken,” said Kent Holsinger, a Denver attorney who has represented developers in Preble’s cases. “For the past decade, millions of dollars have been wasted on this common mouse while real conservation work goes undone.” Environmental groups said they would sue the Fish and Wildlife Service over the Wyoming delisting. The Fish and Wildlife Service will now come up with a recovery plan for the mouse in Colorado, which could contain new measures for the protection of the mouse. Developers and land owners who disturb ground within 300 feet of a 100-year flood plain or the center of a stream must consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service, which may require they conduct surveys for the presence of the mouse and avoid destroying its habitat or mitigate any habitat loss. Some areas, including along Monument Creek south of the Air Force Academy and along Cottonwood Creek and Sand Creek and their tributaries, have been cleared for the presence of the mouse, meaning surveys aren’t required. Nancy Prievy, natural resource specialist for El Paso County, said county officials have not completed a habitat conservation plan, in the works for years, that will govern the mouse’s recovery here. Once that is complete, possibly next year, developers and land owners can get approval locally, rather than with the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Denver. In El Paso County, the mouse’s presence forced a developer in Monument to abandon plans for 175 acres of trails and ballfields in a housing project. A developer in Briargate gave up plans for 155 acres of homes, trails and ballfields in a 7,600-acre plan. Last year, the Air Force Academy changed its procedures after building a parking lot on mouse habitat without getting Fish and Wildlife Service approval.
