The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is requesting comments on a draft recovery plan for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, which is found in New Mexico, Arizona and southern Colorado. The mouse was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2014.
USFWS said in its notice that livestock, elk and feral horse grazing are the primary sources of current and anticipated mouse habitat loss, along with incompatible water use, lack of water due to drought and severe wildland fires.
The ultimate recovery goal for the mouse is to delist the subspecies by ensuring its long-term viability, according to USFWS. The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse is currently known to be found within 13 eighth hydrological unit code subunits across the three Southwest states. The 13 subunits are within six geographical units that contain the currently known populations.
In order to downlist the species under the ESA, several criteria must be met:
• Riparian and adjacent upland habitats with currently known populations are protected, maintained and/or restored.
• An overall stable or increasing population trend is documented over an eight-year period.
• Threats to the mouse are decreasing or abated when habitat meets the above criteria.
• At least one subunit has functional habitat and populations to meet the first two criteria.
In order to be delisted from the ESA, the following criteria must be met:
• Riparian and adjacent upland habitats within each of the subunits are protected, maintained and/or restored.
• Within a subunit, an overall stable or increasing population trend is documented over a 12-year period.
• Threats to the mouse are decreasing or abated when the protection and expansion of occupied riparian and adjacent upland habitats meet the first two criteria, and significant threats that include excessive grazing, ineffective water management and/or water diversions, stream degradation and stream incision with flood plain disconnection are controlled or managed to the extent that they do not pose imminent or chronic downward pressures on the mouse and its habitat.
• At least two subunits in each unit have functional habitat and populations maintained to meet the first two criteria.
“In particular, we are interested in additional information regarding the current threats to the species, ongoing beneficial management efforts and the costs associated with implementing the recommended recovery actions,” the notice read.
Comments are being accepted through March 14 and can be submitted by searching for docket ID FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136 at regulations.gov, or by mailing comments to Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
