Officials Propose an Expansion of Endangered Mouse Habitat

Thursday, February 02, 2006
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed redrawing the habitat vital to the endangered Alabama beach mouse's survival to include areas beyond the surfside dunes that were originally believed to be its main home.

In total, the Fish & Wildlife proposes to name 1,298 acres in the Gulf Shores area as "critical habitat." That doesn't mean those areas will be preserved, but that special permits are needed to build there.

From the time the beach mouse was first listed as endangered in 1985, 1,034 acres -- concentrated in primary and secondary dunes in the Gulf Shores area -- have comprised the rodent's critical habitat.

"Since then we've learned a lot more," said Daphne-based Fish & Wildlife Service spokesman Mike Groutt. "We've found out that some of the higher elevation dunes found in the scrub line are very important, especially in hurricanes."

While the proposed habitat boundaries include areas well north of the previous mouse confines, such as the 330-foot-wide right of way that follows Alabama 180 and the Gulf Highlands subdivision, other areas were dropped from the critical territory.

Such areas, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service's report released Wednesday, were excluded as critical habitat because they are public lands that already have suitable conservation plans in place, such as the Gulf State Park and parts of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.

Or they are privately held tracts whose owners have received special permits from federal regulators that absolve them from culpability if they accidentally harm or kill beach mice. This private land, which includes large resort developments like The Beach Club and 49 single-family homes, consists of 122 acres, according to the proposal.

The proposed changes were borne of a 2003 lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity that charged the Wildlife Service was not expanding the species' critical habitat swiftly enough, despite acknowledging in 2000 that doing so was warranted. In 2004, a federal judge ordered that the habitat be revised.

Public comments regarding the proposal will be accepted until April 3 and the Wildlife Service aims to file a final ruling by January on the mouse's habitat.

Written comments can be delivered in person or mailed to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Attn.: Acting Field Supervisor, 1208-B Main St., Daphne, AL 36526; sent by fax to (251) 441-6222; or e-mailed to robert.tawes@fws.gov.