Why has one mouse species had so much impact? Because of its rarity. The Preble's, a subspecies of the meadow jumping mouse, had practically vanished before anyone realized it was in trouble. It had historically been known only in a few small pockets along the Front Range. The mouse favors the same habitats humans like—riparian areas along streams and rivers. Rampant suburban development of water corridors, as well as water diversion projects, has destroyed much of the dense vegetation this mouse needs. Recent surveys have found Preble's populations along a handful of creeks in Jefferson, Boulder, Larimer, El Paso and Elbert counties, at Rocky Flats, Roxborough State Park, the Air Force Academy and in the Medicine Bow National Forest east of Laramie, Wyoming.
 
In October of 1997, Congress passed an appropriations bill including $400,000 to develop a conservation program to protect the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Over the last several years the DOW has instituted, partly with dollars from the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust, inventory and genetic studies and is co-chairing a technical working group concerned with the mouse. Research and survey work is ongoing. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to rule by March of this year (1998) on listing the Preble's as a threatened or endangered species.

End of this issue.

(The information contained in this issue of Colorado's Wildlife Company was accurate at the time of original publication. Situations and circumstances described, staff positions, contact information, and dates of some events may have changed in the interim. Present knowledge and understanding of biological and behavioral facts and information may also be different, now, than presented here.)