Someone needs to explain to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the 41st parallel of latitude, Colorado’s northern border, is just an imaginary line on a map — not a Great Wall of Wyoming that would stop a humble mouse from jumping to the Cowboy State from its Centennial neighbor to the south.
Only such a towering geographical misconception can explain the bizarre proposal by the federal agency that would leave Colorado’s Preble’s meadow jumping mice under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act while delisting their northern cousins.
The federal hair-splitters did offer a rationale for their bifurcated ruling. They argue that the mouse community is divided along two river drainages, the North Platte in Wyoming and the South Platte in Colorado.
Steve Guertin, acting regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service, explained that “Land use across Preble’s habitat in Wyoming is dominated by agriculture that appears to support Preble’s population. There’s no indication that these practices are likely to change in the foreseeable future in ways that would affect mouse populations.”
In contrast, Guertin concluded, “Much of Preble’s riparian habitat in Colorado has been severely altered and destroyed by human activities,” essentially exterminating the critter inside the C-470 area and other locales.
That observation could certainly be used to justify differences in the degree of regulation and the nature of remedial action, if any, that might be required in the two neighboring states. But there is no guarantee that Wyoming won’t experience urbanization or other development in the future that could stress its own mouse population.
Jeremy Nichols, conservation advocate for the Center for Native Ecosystems, quickly challenged the proposal, arguing, “If the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse is threatened with extinction, then it’s threatened everywhere. Leaving Wyoming out is only going to increase that threat.”
Colorado’s senior senator, Republican Wayne Allard, doesn’t always agree with environmental groups. But he did this time, arguing, “This recommendation ignores scientific data and completely defies common sense. If it can be delisted in Wyoming, it should be delisted in Colorado.”
The unexpected bi-state game of “Now we see an endangered species, now we don’t,” overshadowed a companion finding that the Preble’s mouse is genetically distinct from the more common Western jumping mouse. That point has long been in dispute between pro-development groups and environmentalists.
But now that we know what the Preble’s mouse is, it seems more important than ever to decide whether or not it is truly endangered and, if it is, to protect it in whatever meadow it may choose to jump in, whether that be in Colorado or Wyoming.
