NEWS RELEASE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
134 UNION BOULEVARD
LAKEWOOD, COLORADO 80228 March 24, 1997 LeRoy Carlson 303-275-2370
Sharon Rose 303-236-7917 ext. 415
Terry Sexson 303-236-7917 ext. 429 U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE BEGINS RECOVERY PROCESS FOR PREBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE On Tuesday, March 25, in the Federal Register, the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, a small, nocturnal rodent, as an endangered species. During the next year, the Service will begin recovery efforts by holding public meetings in affected areas to provide information on the mouse and its habitat and to gather any additional information that may be known about the species. At the end of the year and after comments from the public have been collected and reviewed, the Fish and Wildlife Service will make a final determination as to whether the Preble's meadow jumping mouse should be added to the Federal list of endangered species as a threatened or endangered species or if it no longer warrants listing. The Preble's meadow jumping mouse, first identified in 1895, inhabits wet meadows and riparian habitats along the eastern edge of the Colorado Front Range below 7,400 feet in elevation and similar habitats in southeastern Wyoming. Surveys conducted during the past five years have found very few individuals of this species in Wyoming and failed to find it at many historical locations in Colorado. Currently, Preble's is known to live in Jefferson, Boulder, Douglas and El Paso counties in Colorado, and Albany and Laramie counties in Wyoming. Four of the areas where Preble's is found are Federal facilities, including the Air Force Academy and Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site in Colorado, and Warren Air Force Base and the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. | |
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