FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2009
Contacts:
Josh Pollock, Conservation Director, Center for Native Ecosystems, 303-546-0214 x2
Gary Wockner, Colorado Program Director, Clean Water Action, 970-218-8310
Proposed Habitat Protections for Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse Could Mean Enhanced Front Range Stream Protection, Water Quality
Proposed additions to Preble’s critical habitat would help preserve Front Range riparian areas while ensuring species survival
Denver – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed today to expand the protected habitat for the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse in Colorado by nearly 18,500 acres along more than 400 miles of streams. Such an expansion could spell significant protections for the Front Range’s best streamside habitat and improve water quality for large areas of the Front Range, including the Denver, Ft. Collins, and Colorado Springs metro areas.
“Protecting habitat for the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse will ensure healthy streams and safe drinking water throughout the Front Range, in addition to increasing the chances of survival for this and other native wildlife,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems. “Especially after the Fish and Wildlife Service stripped protections from half the mouse’s range by cutting Wyoming out, this habitat protection in Colorado is all the more important.”
Today’s proposed critical habitat designation would expand on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2003 designation, which illegally excluded a number of watersheds based on speculation over local conservation plans, few of which materialized.
The proposal identifies stream segments in nine major watersheds in Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, and Teller Counties. Several of these segments were specifically excluded from the 2003 designation after former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald overrode the expert opinions of Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and directed the agency to remove habitat in Boulder, El Paso, and Douglas Counties.
“Today’s proposal is a significant improvement over the current protections in Colorado,” said Pollock. “We are hopeful the final designation will remain as biologically sound and appropriate to the needs of the species as this proposal.”
Today’s proposed revision was prompted in part by a lawsuit from the City of Greeley over the 2003 designation. That original designation included a section of the Cache la Poudre watershed adjacent to the city’s Seaman reservoir, a segment that remains in the current proposal. Greeley has touted plans to more than double the size of the existing reservoir.
“We are very concerned that Greeley may try to circumvent the Endangered Species Act,” said Gary Wockner, Colorado Program Director for Clean Water Action.
Both the proposed new Halligan Reservoir and new Seaman Reservoir would occur in already designated or previously proposed critical habitat for the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse. Fish and Wildlife Service officials reiterated today that regardless of the final habitat designation, consultation with the agency’s biologists is still required for most projects affecting occupied habitat.
Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed Endangered Species Act protections from the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse in Wyoming. This decision is currently being challenged in U.S. court by Center for Native Ecosystems and other conservation organizations.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service will surely have to revise the critical habitat designation again when they add Wyoming back into the current Threatened listing,” noted Pollock.
Critical habitat designation is a central component of the Endangered Species Act. Critical habitat is defined as those areas “essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management or protection.” Recent data suggests that endangered species with critical habitat are twice as likely to be recovering than those without it.
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