California Congressman Rich ard Pombo, a longtime critic of the Endangered Species Act, will oversee a hearing of the House Committee on Resources in Greeley on Monday focusing on the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.
The hearing is being billed as “Abuses of the Endangered Species Act: the so-called Preble’s meadow jumping mouse” and was initiated by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo.
A spokesman for Musgrave said her goal was to bring decisionmakers from Washington, D.C., to Colorado to hear about possible impacts of placing the mouse on the endangered species list.
“For some people, it’s a hard issue because they want to protect the mouse,” said Musgrave spokesman Aaron Johnson. “For farmers, it’s an economic issue.”
Known for the long tail it uses as a springboard to jump, the tiny mouse has been seen as a threat to Front Range development and agriculture.
Environmental groups argue that development is responsible for the destruction of the mouse’s habitat and that it warrants federal protection.
In 1998, the mouse was declared a “threatened” species in Colorado and Wyoming.
Since then, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been trying to determine whether the mouse is a specific subspecies and not a common jumping mouse found across much of the nation.
The tentative witness list for the hearing is filled with several opponents of giving the mouse federal protection – including a rancher, homebuilders, the Colorado Farm Bureau and Wyoming state officials.
“Our president will testify that we don’t believe Preble’s should be listed, and we don’t believe that it was ever a subspecies,” said Jared Koch, director of national affairs for the Farm Bureau.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s press secretary confirmed he had been invited but was planning to send the state’s attorney general to give testimony.
Absent from the current witness list is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is expected to soon make a decision regarding the mouse’s future protection.
“That’s news to me,” said Matt Kales, a spokesman for the service’s regional office in Denver when asked about the hearing.
Kales said it’s not unusual for the service not to be included in congressional field hearings when an agency matter is being discussed.
The field hearing is scheduled to begin at noon in the Division 1 courtroom at the Weld County Courthouse.
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-954-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
