Feds agree to study whether to list pocket gopher

DENVER - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will recommend by next April whether the Wyoming pocket gopher should be federally protected.

The deadline is part of an agreement filed Wednesday in federal court in Denver. The agency will do more analysis if it's decided the gopher is a candidate for the federal endangered species list.

The agreement settles a lawsuit by Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo., seeking protection for the gopher found only in an area along the Carbon and Sweetwater county lines in southern Wyoming.

The groups petitioned Fish and Wildlife in August 2007 to add the gopher to the endangered species list and accused the agency of stalling.

In February, the agency's intial review found there was enough information indicating that listing the gopher might be warranted. Fish and Wildlife agreed in the settlement to make a recommendation after the next round of analysis by April 10, 2010.

"This species has been waiting for its due consideration for many years now," said Josh Pollock of the Center for Native Ecosystems. "We are looking forward to the service taking a real look and doing a real scientific review."

The conservation groups said in their lawsuit filed late last year that the Wyoming pocket gopher, smaller and paler than other pocket gophers, is known to live in just 14 locations in the two counties. Recent surveys turned up only 13 of the gophers, according to the lawsuit.

Oil and gas development in the area, grazing, pesticides and poisoning threaten the gophers, the groups said.