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NEWS RELEASE November 6, 2008 Wyoming pocket gopher threatened with extinction: Conservation groups seek to speed up essential Endangered Species Act protection
Laramie — The imperiled Wyoming pocket gopher is immediately threatened with extinction by oil and gas drilling. On November 4th, conservationists filed a complaint with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to issue a required 90-day finding to address their August 2007 petition to protect the Wyoming pocket gopher under the Endangered Species Act. Documented to occur in or near only two Wyoming counties, Carbon and Sweetwater, odds of survival for the Wyoming pocket gopher will be greatly reduced if proposed and approved oil and gas development projects move forward and the species is not granted protection. Wyoming is home to four species of pocket gophers but only the Wyoming pocket gopher (Thomomys clusius) is exceedingly rare. Due to its similar appearance to Northern pocket gophers and overlapping habitats, genetic testing is required to distinguish, positively, the Northern and Wyoming species. Genetic testing commissioned by Governor Freudenthal’s office is complete and results confirm that the Wyoming pocket gopher is a distinct species. After more than a year, the Fish and Wildlife Service has, so far, refused to investigate the body of science that indicates the Wyoming pocket gopher is genetically unique and could be facing extinction. “Time is of the essence,” said Duane Short, wild species program director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “Active gas wells already outnumber the number of pocket gophers known to occupy the area. In the pocket gopher’s only known habitat, Devon Energy Corporation has been approved by the Bureau of Land Management to develop 1,000 new natural gas wells in a project called Desolation Flats and BP American proposes to develop 8,950 wells in a project called Continental Divide-Creston.” There are already over 2,000 existing active wells and almost 500 reclaimed wells in the project areas. “If these projects move forward, destruction and constant disturbance of Wyoming pocket gopher habitat will occur over the 15-year construction period and an estimated 30 to 40 year project life,” Short said. Short explained that, “Forty years span at least 24 pocket gopher generations. It would be absurd for the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management to assume that oil and gas related destruction and disruption of the pocket gopher’s extremely limited habitat will not drive them toward extinction. New roads, gas and water collection pipelines, compressor stations, water disposal systems, and an electrical distribution system would further destroy irreplaceable Wyoming pocket gopher habitat.” Erin Robertson, senior biologist with Center for Native Ecosystems said, “This is just one more example of wildlife put at risk by the rush to drill Wyoming. The Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management must act now to conserve the Wyoming pocket gopher before its remaining habitat becomes another gas field.” The conservation groups say their challenge will ultimately speed up the process required by the Endangered Species Act and, that if science prevails over politics, the Wyoming pocket gopher will more likely be saved from extinction caused by out of control oil and gas development. Contact information:
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073 (307) 742-7978 - carmi@voiceforthewild.org |