Posted on 01/30/2005 6:57:48 AM PST by Grampa Dave
Jumping Mouse Loses Federal Protection
Sat Jan 29,12:44 AM ET
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Preble's meadow jumping mouse, once seen as a costly impediment to development, is now viewed by the government as a critter that never really existed — and is no longer in need of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
AP Photo
The Interior Department said Friday that new DNA research shows the 9-inch mouse, which can launch itself a foot and a half into the air and switch direction in mid-flight, is probably identical to another variety of mouse common enough not to need protection.
"That action is based on new research that indicated the Preble's meadow jumping mouse should not be classified as a separate mouse," Assistant Interior Secretary Craig Manson said Friday, calling it "an example of the use of best available science that was peer-reviewed."
Manson and other Interior officials cited a peer-reviewed but unpublished study by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science suggesting the Preble's mouse is genetically identical to the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse. The study was paid for by Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, the Energy Department, the state of Wyoming and the Denver museum.
Interior officials acknowledged that 14 peer reviewers had split 8-6 to narrowly support the study's conclusions.
Based on the study, the Fish and Wildlife Service will propose removing the Preble's mouse from the government's endangered species list about a year from now. It will remain protected until then. The Preble's mouse has been considered a distinct subspecies based on a 1954 study that looked at the skulls of three mice and the skins of 11 others.
Nearly 31,000 acres have been designated critical mouse habitat for the Preble's mouse along streams in Colorado and Wyoming, including large parts of Colorado's Front Range, where sprawl is booming amid the foothills and the prairie. The mouse also has blocked construction of reservoirs despite a continued drought there.
Environmentalist groups called Interior's decision a political one.
"This proposal is a devastating blow to open space across the Front Range, to good science and to the public interest," said Jeremy Nichols, conservation director for the Laramie, Wyo.-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
The decision came in response to twin petitions filed in December 2003 by Wyoming and the Denver-based Coloradans for Water Conservation and Development, an advocacy group for farmers, businesses and home builders. Kent Holsinger, an attorney for the Denver group, said the meadow jumping mice are abundant enough to survive without federal protection.
Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record), R-Wyo., called the action "good news both for private property owners in Wyoming and for those who enjoy the use of our public lands."
Sen. Wayne Allard (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., said the decision points out the need to revamp the Endangered Species Act. "Although the act has noble goals, listing errors harm not only the credibility of the act, but also harm people such as farmers and ranchers whose lives are affected by a faulty species listing," he said.
Builders, landowners and local governments have spent as much as $100 million by some estimates protecting the Preble's meadow jumping mouse since it was added to the federal list in 1998 as a species whose survival was considered "threatened."
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We hope that this is the first of a huge tidal wave of removal of idiotic ESA's in the next 4 years.
The first few times, you see one of the critters launch itself and change directions, you wonder if your eyes really saw what was happening.
Wow! Get out the Holy Hand Grenade!
Brought to you at taxpayers expense by the same group that tells you that large corporations control the U.S.
These Enviral Whacko foundations besides being funded by our tax $'s, receive money from the super rich elite left wing fascists's non profits. Like Terroriza Heinz's various phoney non profits.
"9-inch mouse, which can launch itself a foot and a half into the air and switch direction in mid-flight"
Rodentius Kerrius?
I remember when I was little... we had poultry... and my dad left a big tub of bird seed open.
In the morning... we found a VERY stuffed and round little mouse in there, too foodlogged to move. LOL! It had to jump in there because of the sleek round sides and the very large rim.
You win.
It went from jumping mouse to "Help, I ate too much, fell down and can't move" mouse.
Insert obligatory Michael Moore mouse joke here...
Great!
The former jumping mouse in your family legends was infected with Michael Moore Mouse syndrome. Then it got too fat from over eating to jump. It fell down and just laid there!
And we have a winner....
"This proposal is a devastating blow to open space across the Front Range,"
These wackos just showed what we all suspected: This has nothing to do with protecting endangered species, and everything to do with impeding land use.
The people of Wyoming have been punished by East Coast and West Coast Watermelon senators and congressits for being too conservative for over a decade.
LOL... you're sweet... :o)
This is what happens when college students are paid to "find" "endangered species" and map them.
A friend that used to work for me in the IT industry, spent his college summers in Montana doing just that.
(He was a Bio major)
The objective was to find flora or fauna that "looked different", and catalog them.
If the object had "some difference" from the available reference subjects, WHA LA! A "new species"!
Resultingly, if someone proposed "developing" in a particular area, "Sorry, there there's endangered species in there, no can do."
You're kidding right?
My invertebrate zoology professor told us, "you aren't going to find a new species. When identifying just pick what's the closest in this book."
The last thing I need in the morning before my coffee kicks in is a jumping computer mouse on my desk!
I'm still waiting for the Save the Rat Foundation.
No, I am not kidding.
Here's another example from 25 years ago.
Some company wanted to build a Liquified Natural Gas terminal on Central California coast.
As this progressed they were told "No can do, these are sacred Indian burial grounds".
Well, it turns out that a news reporter came in contact with an "uncoached" representative from that Indian group.
He asked how long these remains had been there.
The representative statement (paraphrased), "Well, we brought these in last month, and we have some more being brought in soon."
Some "educated in that Indian culture" responded, "Oh, they would NEVER do that!" "Those remains are VERY sacred, and they would NEVER move them for political reasons!"
Ya, political agendas NEVER overcome the integrity of the science or culture....../sarcasm.
Oh geeeeeez... how can Native Americans NOT be offended at all the stereotypes the hippies are pushing on them? ...
The Watermelon zealots also hired retired people to "find" these critters.
Ten years ago after I retired, I was fly fishing in the NW area of California and the SW area of Oregon.
I kept seeing this fly fisher with probably a $60,000 rig. It was a big diesil Ford F250 4 wheel drive with a very expensive/large/self contained camper.
During a lull in fishing, I complemented him on his rig. It turned out that he was newly retired like me. I told him he must have had a hell of a great retirement to buy a rig like that.
He replied that he was a monitor/listener for endangered species and got paid to search for these critters. At that time he was getting paid at night to drive into remote areas and park his camper. Then set up a couple of recording devices to record any spotted owls and a rare marbelled coastal bird which supposedly only came out at night.
So he fly fished and whatever he wanted to do in the day time. Then drove into the wildernesses/forests, camped free with a special permit, set up the listening devices and was paid apparently quite well to do this.
He was also paid extra for any photos of spotted owls that he saw and caught pictures of.
I asked him how the envirals knew where the spotted owl pictures came from (the specific area). He laughed and said they didn't and didn't care.
Post your land -
Eco-fascists Keep Out!
Owner armed....and owns a backhoe
Sandrat has created the logo for the Save the Rat Foundation:
DEMOC
"I think the Save the rat foundation is already created, it doesn't seem to very effective though. It's sometimes referred to in the press by another name the Democrat National Conference"
Or the DNC for short!
I always thought that DNC was an acronym for Dummy's Not Conceding.
Donkeys
Not
Conscious?
Dashall Not Caring
Bull Crap! Only Art Bell's and George Noree's UFO piloting Chupacabra can do that!!! (Oh, and some few FReepers who buy alla that suposedly cost effective alternative energy crappola!!!)
Where I come from, 9 inch mice are called rats.
Guess who controls the credentials for "peers"?
Abolish the ESA ~ Now!
MORE GOOD NEWS! BUMP^
"The three states were supposed to have a total of 30 packs, which would have been in the 100-150 range, we now have nearly 100 packs, and a thousand wolves that they admit to, and of course that is not enough."
Shoot, shovel, shut up. ;)
in the 90s the enviro-wackos protected a fly in riverside county, ca, near corona.
it stopped a commercial development.
I thought this was about Ross Perot getting electrocuted!
It's enuf ta make anywun's hare stand on end, rite?
I believe the Waspman has discovered a new endangered species...the standing hare (hairyass stationeryass)...distantly related to the jumping mouse.
BTTT!!!!!!!
This owl never existed either:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1615823/posts
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