Preble’s mouse hearing draws little attention

DENVER - If Coloradans are incensed over plans to keep the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse on the endangered species list, they aren’t exactly jumping at the chance to voice their indignity.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held a public hearing Monday night to get comments on the proposal, which reverses a 2005 decision to remove the mouse from federal protection here.

The response was a squeak. Four people showed up to speak, of about two dozen in attendance.

Kent Holsinger, a Golden attorney who represents developers and others who want to see it delisted, said many people are concerned, even if they weren’t there Monday.

“When people work for a living, it’s awfully tough to come to a meeting at 4 p.m. and a hearing at 6,” he said. “But yes, I think people are very upset.

“Why are we spending so much taxpayer money, landowner money, on a mouse no one can tell apart?”

The 3-inch mouse with the 5-inch tail, which can jump 18 inches in the air, lives only along creeks and rivers of the Front Range of Colorado and in Wyoming. El Paso County, from the Air Force Academy northward, has the best-documented population in Colorado, and development in the area could be affected.

It was put on the endangered species list in 1998 because much of its habitat has been destroyed by development. But it was proposed for delisting in 2005, after a study concluded it is not a separate animal from an identical common jumping mouse.

Other studies disagreed, and a panel of scientists commissioned by the agency concurred that Preble’s is its own subspecies, and last month the decision was announced.

Though officials didn’t mention it Monday, there have been allegations that Julie MacDonald, former deputy assistant secretary of the Interior Department, exercised improper influence in the decision over eight species, including Preble’s.

But in the same decision, they proposed to remove it from protection in Wyoming, where it is not threatened by as much development.

In Colorado, the human population in the seven-county range is expected to increase by 1.5 million through 2040. But in the four Wyoming counties, the anticipated increase is only 18,000 people.

Two speakers from the Center for Native Ecoystems, an environmental group, urged officials to restore protection in Wyoming.

“The service has chosen to delist on a political boundary, even though its own research shows it is rare in (Wyoming’s) North Platte River Basin,” said biologist Erin Robertson. “It makes no sense for mice to lose protection once they jump across a state line.”

The only other speaker was Mark Johnston, the deputy director of environmental services of El Paso County.

He read a statement from the county commissioners, who wrote that “significant voluntary preservation measures implemented along the Front Range in general, and in El Paso County specifically, have not been taken into account in the delisting process.”

If the Fish and Wildlife Service decision stands — officials will make the final determination by June 30 — developers and property owners would continue to be required to conduct surveys for the mouse’s presence and avoid disturbing mouse habitat.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com

PUBLIC COMMENT

The agency is taking public comments through Jan. 22. They can be mailed to Field Supervisor, Colorado Field Office, Ecological Services, PO Box 25486, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225. Comments can be faxed to (303) 236-4005 or e-mailed to FW6_PMJM@fws.gov.