S.F. National Forest lifts fire restrictions
Crews building 2.8-mile fence to protect habitat
Forest officials ease rules for campfires and smoking because re e t rains have dampened fears of wildfires.
A university research team confirmed this week the presence of the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse throughout the Santa Fe National Forest.
“There was a lot of curiosity and concerns about whether the mouse was still present there or not,” said Carol Chambers, a wildlife ecologist and professor at Northern Arizona University’s School of Forestry.
She was one of 10 members of a research team working as part of an effort to create conservation measures for the protected species, found only in New Mexico, Arizona and southern Colorado.
The mouse was discovered in 8 of 10 surveyed sites in the Santa Fe National Forest, Chambers said, but “there is a lot more we need to know.”
The mouse, a sandy brown rodent with elongated feet, was listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014.
But some have said habitat protections for the mouse are unnecessary and infringe on ranchers’ water rights.
Chambers’ team still has weeks of fieldwork to determine how the mice thrive and reproduce, as well as what their habitat needs are. The group’s research could help inform management decisions at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Game and Fish departments in New Mexico and Arizona to help sustain the species.
The mice were trapped and tracked using conventional box traps, track plates used to detect footprints and video recordings. The team then collected hair and
fecal samples to be processed in a genetics laboratory, allowing researchers to study the diet and behaviors of the mice, which hibernate for up to nine months of the year.
The U.S. House of Representatives, in an amendment by Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., seeks to eliminate funding for conservation projects for the mouse, saying the rodent’s protections infringe on ranchers’ water rights and are based on incomplete science.
But environmental advocates say the mouse is an indicator species — its struggle to survive in a riparian area is a sign of ailments in the habitat.
Santa Fe National Forest Supervisor Maria Garcia said the U.S. Forest Service intends to balance the species’ needs with those of ranchers.
A team of 50 Forest Service employees and Youth Conservation Corps members are building a 2.8-mile fence meant to protect the meadow jumping mouse’s habitat from grazing cattle as part of a project approved in May.
“While we have obligations under the Endangered Species Act for the conservation of the mouse, we also understand that the ranching tradition runs deep in New Mexico,” Garcia said. “Our intent is to protect the mouse while continuing to allow grazing on the impacted allotments.”