CHEYENNE — Conservationists complain that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is dragging its feet on their efforts to seek federal protections for the Wyoming pocket gopher, but an agency official says it is making progress on the case.
The Wyoming pocket gopher is known to inhabit just an area along the Carbon and Sweetwater county lines. It spends most of its time underground and tends to live on ridge tops.
“We are certainly concerned about this species being listed, being examined and from our perspective listed as soon as possible,” said Duane Short, wild species program director for Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
Biodiversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2007 to protect the gopher under the Endangered Species Act. The agency was supposed to issue an initial finding within 90 days.
However, no such finding has occurred, prompting Biodiversity to file a complaint.
Diane Katzenberger, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife regional office in Denver, said the agency failed to meet its 90-day deadline because of a lack of money and should have a decision by February.
