The flood has long since subsided, but it will be months before experts know the impact of September’s rains on one of the area’s most vulnerable inhabitants — the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.
The Preble’s mouse is a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, and that’s during the best of times. September, when much more than a foot of rain fell in many areas along the Front Range in a week’s time, was tough on many species.
But for the Preble’s population, the storm likely was particularly hard. The mostly nocturnal mouse typically favors heavily vegetated streamside areas and the immediately adjacent upland areas along the eastern edge of the Front Range foothills from southern Wyoming to south of Colorado Springs.
The South Boulder Creek drainage has been designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a “critical habitat” to the Preble’s mouse, meaning that it is considered essential to the conservation of the animal and may require special management considerations or protections.
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