WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, December 6, 2007
Feds consider mouse for endangered species list

Biggest threats for the furry rodent are grazing and the loss of habitat
Contact: Santa Fe New Mexican

ALBUQUERQUE - The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse is among a handful of species from the Southwest that are being considered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency released a list of the latest candidates Thursday. They include the mouse, a snail and a frog from Arizona, a fish from Tennessee and a variety of buckwheat found in Nevada. The list names 280 plants and animals in all.

As for the mouse, agency officials in New Mexico say it once was found in about 100 locations from the Jemez Mountains in the north down through the Rio Grande Valley to the Sacramento Mountains in the south. Now, the mouse can be found in about 10 places.

"It's literally on the brink of extinction," said Nicole Rosmarino, the conservation director of WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe-based environmental group that has been monitoring the status of the mouse.

Local Fish and Wildlife officials and Rosmarino agree the biggest threats for the furry rodent are grazing and the loss of habitat. The mouse depends on moist meadows along streams and rivers to make its homes, find food and reproduce.

Many species in the arid Southwest depend on stream-side habitats, and Rosmarino said: "We're failing to recognize that we need to protect these arteries of life."

The Fish and Wildlife Service said the mouse has a high priority on the list of candidates, but the agency has not determined whether it will propose endangered species status for the animal.

An animal or plant on the candidate list does not have protections under the Endangered Species Act, but agency officials say it's the first step in coordinating with land managers to improve the situation.

Rosmarino said her group plans to push Fish and Wildlife toward giving the rodent endangered species status.

"Some of the species on the candidate list have been on there for over 25 years," she said.

Rosmarino said bringing the rodent under the safety net of the Endangered Species Act is important since climate change predictions are now calling for an extended drought in the Southwest and declining snowpack.

"That means less dependable water flows, and that's going to harm species that depend on wetter areas, such as the jumping mouse," she said.

The mouse is considered endangered by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, which has been working on a recovery plan to help the rodent.

The other species identified as candidates by the Fish and Wildlife Service's annual review are a treefrog found the in Huachuca Mountains and adjacent Canelo Hills of Arizona; the San Bernardino springsnail, also found in Arizona; Las Vegas buckwheat in Nevada's Clark and Lincoln counties; and the laurel dace, a fish found in Tennessee's Bledsoe and Rhea counties.

Copyright 2007 New Mexican - Reprinted with permission