Species listed in Western group's petitions

| The Associated Press

10/9/2008 -

ALBUQUERQUE — WildEarth Guardians has filed several petitions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking protections for 13 animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act. Here is a look at the species listed in the petitions:

Chihuahua scurfpea — A wide-ranging, but rare plant with only about 300 known individuals in New Mexico and Arizona. It was historically collected for medicinal use. Because of overcollection, herbicides and grazing, the scurfpea is at risk.

Jemez Mountains salamander — A lungless salamander that spends most of its life underground in the moist soils of New Mexico's Jemez Mountains. It is the most imperiled of only three salamanders that exist in the state, and threats include climate change, wildfire, road building and logging.

New Mexico meadow jumping mouse — A small rodent that depends on moist meadows along streams and rivers in New Mexico and neighboring Arizona and Colorado. Surveys show the mouse has disappeared from nearly three-quarters of the places it historically occupied. Threats include climate change, grazing and loss of habitat.

Sonoran desert tortoise — A tortoise found primarily on rocky slopes and bajadas of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico. It's population has declined by more than half in the last two decades. Threats include urban sprawl, off-roading, grazing, disease and climate change.

Sprague's pipit — A bird that has seen nearly four-fifths of its population disappear in the last four decades. It breeds in the northern Great Plains and southern Canada and winters in the Southwest and northern Mexico. Climate change, grazing and poor water and land management are among the threats.

White-sided jackrabbit — A rabbit that was once found throughout southwestern New Mexico and southern Mexico. Surveys from 1990-1995 counted less than five of the jackrabbits per year. The rabbit depends on desert grasslands that could turn to scrub due to unchecked grazing and climate change.

Wright's marsh thistle — A plant that once ranged across wetlands in the Southwest and northern Mexico. It's now found in only five locations in New Mexico. Threats to the flowering plant include water management, herbicides, off-roading and grazing.

Freshwater mussels — The southern hickorynut, smooth pimpleback, Texas pimpleback, false spike, Mexican fawnsfoot and Texas fawnsfoot are all freshwater. They are disappearing from watersheds in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Mexico due to habitat destruction.

Source: WildEarth Guardians