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NEWS RELEASE July 9, 2008 Protections Stripped from Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse
in Wyoming:
The jumping mouse was first protected under the Act in 1998 because habitat loss and degradation along Front Range streams led to its disappearance from much of the urban corridor in Colorado and Wyoming. The Bush administration has been particularly interested in removing protections from this streamside mammal that happens to inhabit some valuable real estate. Since a flawed 2003 genetics study, the Service has been threatening to take away Endangered Species Act protection. "The Bush administration keeps playing politics with our endangered wildlife," said Erin Robertson, Senior Staff Biologist with Center for Native Ecosystems in Denver. "Endangered species decisions must be scientifically credible instead." The agency claimed in 2005 that the Preble's meadow jumping mouse was too closely related to jumping mice in South Dakota to warrant continued protection, and proposed that the mouse lose its endangered status throughout its range. In 2006 an independent scientific panel concluded that the report the Service had relied on for this proposal was based on contaminated data, and that the Preble's meadow jumping mouse was unique and should remain protected by the Act. "The science is settled," said Dr. Sylvia Fallon, Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. "The mouse is unique and in trouble, and losing protections in Wyoming is a tremendous setback to its recovery." Last summer, under pressure from Congress to account for politically motivated decisions about endangered species, the Service admitted that the 2005 proposal to remove protections was influenced by political appointee Julie MacDonald. Earlier the Department of Interior had launched an investigation into MacDonald's activities and concluded that she inappropriately overruled agency scientists. In a June 21, 2007 internal memo the Service revealed that "Ms. MacDonald was involved in the decision to move forward with a proposal to delist the Preble's meadow jumping mouse based on a preliminary genetics report from Dr. Rob Roy Ramey. At the time of the proposal the report had not yet been accepted for publication and peer-reviews had identified major issues with the report" (p. 3). "The jumping mice, the streams they call home, and other wildlife that depends on these healthy riparian areas will suffer from the Service's political pandering," said Robertson. "It makes no sense for mice to lose protections once they jump across the state line." "We have no choice but to challenge this illegal decision in court," said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyoming. "Wildlife gets protected under the Endangered Species Act because it is disappearing across a major part of its range, and the law wisely requires that all remaining populations and their critical habitat are protected. Leaving the best remaining habitats in Wyoming unprotected based on politics while the jumping mouse flirts with extinction in Colorado flies in the face of common sense, and violates the law." For a high-resolution image of the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, the final decision, the June 2007 memo, and other supporting materials, visit: http://www.nativeecosystems.org/species/preble-s-meadow-jumping-mouse-1/preble-s-meadow-jumping-mouse/ Contact information:
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073 (307) 742-7978 - carmi@voiceforthewild.org |