December 9, 2007
Speak Out For Protection of
Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse
U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Open House & Public Hearing
Monday, December 10, 2007
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office
134 Union Boulevard, Lakewood, Colorado
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
First State Bank Conference Center
1405 16th Street, Wheatland, Wyoming
At Each Open House
An Informational Session will be held from 4:00 pm to 5:00 p.m.
The Public Hearings will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Oral and Written Comments will be Accepted at the Public Hearings.
Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse
~ Facts ~
● Preble’s is a rare mouse that lives in high quality streamside habitat along the Front Range of Colorado and Wyoming.
▪ Preble’s is not a problem mouse. Preble’s presence is an indicator that the stream and streamside it occupies has remained healthy. Preble’s absence is a sign that unhealthy habitat now exists where it once thrived.
● Preble’s needs Endangered Species Act protection because
▪ best available science has determined Preble’s meadow jumping mouse to be a unique subspecies, and one in dire need of protection.
▪ its population numbers and habitat quality are in decline.
▪ existing protection measures offer inadequate protection.
▪ threats to the mouse and its habitat continue to increase.
● Preble’s faces several threats.
▪ Declining and diminishing high quality streamside habitat including clean water and dense vegetation is a serious threat.
▪ Overgrazing, irrigation diversions, and urban sprawl are also serious threat in Colorado and parts of Wyoming.
▪ No political will or private incentive for protection is Preble’s worst threat.
● Preble’s protection under the Endangered Species Act remains controversial largely due to misinformation.
▪ A genetics study conducted by biased scientists that would have denied Preble’s protection has been exposed and, long since, dismissed by the larger scientific community. Preble’s is a unique subspecies needing protection, period!
▪ Developers, industry and some agriculture interests believe and, therefore, spread the myth that protecting Preble’s will destroy local economies. The primary impact of protecting Preble’s simply requires that cities, counties, and private landowners plan more carefully for growth and development and land use to ensure adequate and healthy habitat for Preble’s. This requirement is not difficult to meet because everyone should want to protect streamside habitat to enhance a plentiful and healthy drinking water supply for their families, and/or pets, and livestock.
▪ Contrary to developers and others’ claims, the impact of protecting Preble’s involves a quite limited area of land. Preble’s inhabits only quality streamside habitat. Throughout the Front Range this entails protecting only select slivers of quality streamside habitat and therefore only minimally affecting development or industrial and agricultural activities.
Please tell U.S. Fish and Wildlife:
► Science, not politics or political appointees, must determine the protection needs of Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.
► The most recent and best available science clearly indicates a dire need to protect Preble’s from extinction in Colorado AND Wyoming or, in other words, throughout its entire range.
For More Detailed Background Information
Email: duane@voiceforthewild.org Call: 307-742-7978
or
visit BCA website In The News page, and click on
Fish and Wildlife Service Reverses 7 Bad Endangered Species Decisions.
