Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced it had listed the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse as an endangered species. FWS included grazing and wildfires as primary reasons for the listing. Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement in response.
“Once again, the US Fish and Wildlife Service chose to cater to big-city radical special interests instead of protecting our jobs, and ignored the fact that conservation and economic growth are not mutually exclusive,” Pearce said. “FWS is sectioning off thousands of acres of federal, state, tribal and private lands to benefit one species at the expense of ranchers in three states. The U.S. Forest Service collaborated with FWS to deny ranchers access to water in Otero County before the Jumping Mouse was even listed. FWS failed to recognize that its own policies--which have stopped timber harvesting and forest thinning--are to blame for the raging wildfires that threaten the mouse. This decision was made before all the facts were considered.”