Identical articles published November 12 in the Greeley Tribune and November 10 on the website of its sister publication Fort Collins Now continued a pattern among Colorado media outlets of omitting key scientific determinations about the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The articles cited “a recent study” concluding that “the Preble's was not a distinct subspecies” and thus not eligible for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. However, the Tribune and Fort Collins Now omitted the fact that two subsequent analyses determined otherwise, with an independent panel that reviewed the conflicting analyses having “unanimously conclude[d] in 2006 that the weight of evidence currently clearly supports retention of the subspecies as a valid taxon."

Moreover, although the articles quoted two Republican members of Colorado's congressional delegation -- U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave -- challenging the recent decision of the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service (USFWS) to maintain the mouse's threatened status in Colorado, they did not offer commentary from any Democratic members of the Colorado delegation.

As the article by reporter Rebecca Boyle noted, “A small rodent the size of a golf ball continues to be a political football in Colorado, after a decision earlier this month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep it on a list of threatened species.” The articles further reported, “On Nov. 1, the wildlife service issued a proposal to remove the mouse from the list of threatened and endangered species in Wyoming but to keep it on that list in Colorado. The proposal is the latest in almost 10 years of decisions and revisions.”

The articles later referred to Denver Museum of Nature & Science curator Rob Roy Ramey's 2005 conclusion regarding the mouse's taxonomy by reporting that “a geneticist from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science concluded in a recent study that the Preble's was not a distinct subspecies.” While the Tribune and Fort Collins Now noted that "[t]he wildlife service's decision affirms the opposite, however," they failed to report that a study subsequent to Ramey's by U.S. Geological Survey biologist Tim King had refuted Ramey's findings, or that a government-commissioned, independent scientific panel later reviewed the two scientists' findings and concluded that “the weight of evidence” supported the “threatened” subspecies designation for the mouse.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted (here, here, here, and here), King issued his findings contradicting Ramey's in 2006. Faced with the discrepancy between the two scientists' conclusions, USFWS commissioned the Oregon-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute (SEI) to “organize an independent scientific review panel to analyze, assess, and weigh the reasons why the data, findings, and conclusions of King et al. (2006) differ from the data, findings, and conclusions of Ramey et al.” In a July 20, 2006, letter conveying its findings, SEI stated: “In the case of the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse ... the panel unanimously conclude that the weight of evidence currently clearly supports retention of the subspecies as a valid taxon.”

As the USFWS stated in issuing its most recent listing proposal, SEI determined that “an insufficient test of the morphological definition of the Preble's meadow jumping mouse had been conducted” in Ramey's study. The proposal notes that while Ramey considered just two of the Preble's “seven morphological characters,” the SEI panel “found that all seven of these characters should have been reexamined.” USFWS further observed that “in August 2006, Ramey ... submitted a statement to the Service disputing the findings and conclusions of the SEI report,” but the agency stated that "[n]o new data or analyses were presented in this statement, and the panel previously considered most of the contentions [Ramey asserted]."

The Tribune and Fort Collins Now articles also noted that the USFWS decision provoked negative responses from both Allard and Musgrave, reporting that “Republican Colorado lawmakers blasted the decision, saying it didn't make ecological or economic sense.” According to the articles, Allard “said he has worked on the matter throughout his tenure in Congress and said the decision ignores the wildlife service's own science.” The articles likewise reported, “Musgrave said after the decision that the patchwork of protection for the mouse would exacerbate an already poor situation” and quoted her as saying, “There is no difference in Preble's mice on northern Weld County ranches than those on ranches across the border that are just a matter of feet away.”

The articles did report that "[e]nvironmental groups and the wildlife service, however, say the mouse is a distinct species worth protecting, and what's more, it can serve as a sort of canary in the mine by acting as a call for conservation." However, neither publication included any commentary from Democratic members of Colorado's congressional delegation, despite reporting the criticisms of Allard and Musgrave.

From the November 12 Greeley Tribune and November 10 Fort Collins Now articles “Tiny mouse causes big debate,” by Rebecca Boyle:

A small rodent the size of a golf ball continues to be a political football in Colorado, after a decision earlier this month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep it on a list of threatened species.

If the bald eagle was the symbol of the need for the Endangered Species Act, then its conceivable prey -- the tiny Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse -- is emblematic of criticisms of the act and how it affects farmers, developers and water managers. Conservation groups, on the other hand, say the mouse has drawn attention to the need for protecting open space and streamside habitats.

The tiny mouse is a microcosm of the ongoing debate in the West over development, water use and land rights.

On Nov. 1, the wildlife service issued a proposal to remove the mouse from the list of threatened and endangered species in Wyoming but to keep it on that list in Colorado. The proposal is the latest in almost 10 years of decisions and revisions.

[...]

Republican Colorado lawmakers blasted the decision, saying it didn't make ecological or economic sense.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, said he has worked on the matter throughout his tenure in Congress and said the decision ignores the wildlife service's own science.

Allard said the decision defied common sense.

“I have a difficult time comprehending how a mouse could nest along Colorado's northern border and wake up one morning listed as an 'endangered species,' cross over into Wyoming to forage for food, and no longer be listed,” he said last week. “By noon a mouse could hop back and forth between endangered and non-endangered several times.”

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, held a hearing on the mouse in Greeley in September 2006 along with Richard Pombo, a California congressman who subsequently lost his seat in the midterm elections. Pombo had written a revision of the Endangered Species Act that drew wide criticism from environmental groups. He said the act had done little to restore populations of endangered species.

Musgrave said after the decision that the patchwork of protection for the mouse would exacerbate an already poor situation.

“There is no difference in Preble's mice on northern Weld County ranches than those on ranches across the border that are just a matter of feet away,” she said.

She added that the mouse matter has delayed water storage projects at a time when farms are drying up throughout northern Colorado, and builders who have to make accommodations for the mouse are causing housing prices to go up.

[...]

Environmental groups and the wildlife service, however, say the mouse is a distinct species worth protecting, and what's more, it can serve as a sort of canary in the mine by acting as a call for conservation.

“The Preble's has helped to spur increased attention and action to conserve streamside habitats and open spaces,” said Jane Cyphers, a Castle Rock Parks and Recreation Commissioner, in a statement issued by Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems.

The shy, nocturnal mouse was discovered in 1899 by Edward A. Preble and listed in 1998 as a threatened species. It is about 9 inches long, with its tail accounting for almost half that length, with large hind feet adapted for jumping. It has a distinct dark stripe down the middle of its back, bordered on either side by gray to orange-colored fur.

It looks a lot like the more common Bear Lodge jumping mouse, which lives in northeastern Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. It's so similar, in fact, that a geneticist from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science concluded in a recent study that the Preble's was not a distinct subspecies. The wildlife service's decision affirms the opposite, however.