WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Protections for Endangered Jumping Mouse Withstand Legal Challenge from Cattlemen

Claims Against Forest Service in New Mexico Not Ripe Says Judge
Contact: Bryan Bird (505) 699-4719

Albuquerque, NM - A federal judge in Albuquerque dismissed a cattlemen's association's legal challenge to proposed restrictions on grazing in New Mexico meadow jumping mouse habitat. The judge found there was no final agency action for the cattlemen to contest while also dismissing claims against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Santa Fe National Forest has been raising temporary fences to keep cows and people out of especially sensitive mouse habitat along the lower Rio Cebolla in Sandoval County.

“It is a relief that the Santa Fe National Forest will continue to protect this little mouse’s grassy habitat as permanent protections are considered,” said Bryan Bird an ecologist with WildEarth Guardians. “The Cattlemen’s lawsuit has no legal basis and is a waste of resources.”

WildEarth Guardians initiated its own legal battle to defend the jumping mouse in New Mexico from livestock grazing. The conservation group has alleged in federal court the U.S. Forest Service is allowing livestock grazing to continue to destroy streamside habitat where the mouse lives, breeds and raises its young. Guardians claims that ongoing livestock grazing is violating the Endangered Species Act.

“Ranchers in the Southwest have to make adjustments in the face of climate change, drought and all of the plants and animals that are on the verge of extinction,” said Bird. “This is very simple, cows cannot be in our streams and rivers: water is too valuable.”

The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse requires pristine streamside habitat and wetlands where vegetation grows to at least 24 inches in height for its food and sheltering needs.  Cattle grazing makes this growth impossible and has been identified by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as one of the primary causes of this mouse’s habitat destruction.  Without its habitat, the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse cannot breed and prepare for its 8-9 month hibernation, one of the longest known for any mammal.

Approximately 70 of the fewer than 100 populations that were located from the late 1980’s to the present have likely been extirpated, with only 29 populations located rangewide since 2005.  Grazing of livestock is the primary driver of this decline.  On the Santa Fe National Forest, the Cebolla-San Antonio and San Diego grazing allotments contain 2 of the mere 29 known populations remaining of this rare jumping mouse. Of these 29 populations the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers 11 compromised; some may be extirpated. The Forest Service has not yet consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on these allotments.