Farmers fret over plan for mouse

Ranchers, irrigators say recovery action might cut grazing, irrigation

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

6/5/2008 - 6/6/08

A little meadow jumping mouse is at the center of a big controversy involving the New Mexico Game Commission and thousands of farmers in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

A state district judge recently issued a temporary restraining order to halt commission action on a recovery plan for the rodent, saying the district didn't get proper notice of the proposal.

Irrigators and ranchers worry the plan will curtail irrigation and grazing.

The mouse, native to New Mexico, is a subspecies found only in this state, biologists say. It grows from 7 to 12 inches long — mostly hind legs and long tail — and is the only known mammal with 18 teeth.

The rodent nests in dry areas but forages wetlands and stream sides. Surveys in 2005 and 2006, however, indicated the mouse's habitat had dramatically declined to only 10 sites from 98 in New Mexico.

The problem, according to the surveys: Excessive grazing, water use, highway reconstruction, urban development and recreation have all contributed to the destruction of habitat.

The Department of Game and Fish contended the district knew about the development of the recovery plan, failed to attend public hearings on it and commented on the plan when it was first released.

The commission was scheduled to vote May 29 on the recovery plan.

As a result of the court order, the state Game Commission decided to readvertise notice of the recovery plan and seek more public comment, according to Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office. "The goal here is that everyone gets a chance to have some input before this goes to a vote," he said.

A court hearing on the conservancy district's request for a permanent injunction against the state Department of Game and Fish was scheduled for July 23 in Socorro.

The district contends the original advertisement for public hearings to draw up a recovery plan had included only the Jemez, Sangre de Cristo, Sacramento and San Juan mountains as areas where the mouse was found. The middle Rio Grande Valley was not listed as part of the mouse's habitat, according to conservancy district attorney Charles DuMars.

Irrigators and district board members didn't attend a recovery plan hearing held in Albuquerque because they didn't think it affected them. But when the recovery plan was released, the middle Rio Grande Valley was included as an area that could be affected.

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District represents thousands of irrigators and water-rights owners in the middle Rio Grande Valley.

Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians and other conservationists are urging greater protection for the mouse and its habitat in light of its decline.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.