ESA PROTECTIONS REINSTATED FOR THE PREBLE’S MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE

As a result of our lawsuit challenging the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse in Wyoming, the Preble’s is regaining its full legal protection under the law.  Because of a Bush Administration policy that allowed imperiled species to be protected in less than their full range, the Preble’s was stripped of all ESA protection in Wyoming in 2008, although it retained such protection in Colorado.  In response to our lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Native Ecosystems, the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, and others, the government requested that the Court reinstate the Preble’s protection, and United States District Judge John Kane in Colorado agreed, over objections by the State of Wyoming and the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.  A copy of the Court’s opinion is here, and a press release is here.