Featured Project: Poudre River Site Conservation Team

The Preble’s meadow jumping mouse is listed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a threatened species. It is only found along the Front Range of Colorado and Southern Wyoming in riparian areas below 7,600 feet.

The Preble’s meadow jumping mouse is listed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a threatened species. It is only found along the Front Range of Colorado and Southern Wyoming in riparian areas below 7,600 feet.

Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed staff is part of a multidisciplinary team known as the Poudre River Site Conservation Team (SCT) that has been established to ensure the survival of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, Zapus hudsonius preblei, a threatened species listed under the Endangered Species Act, in the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River watershed. 

The multidisciplinary team is the first of its kind and is designed to give voice to local communities in the process of recovering the Preble’s mouse. The goal of the SCT is to work toward meeting recovery goals for the Preble’s mouse. The recovery goal for the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River watershed is a minimum of approximately 57 miles of healthy, connected, and protected Preble’s mouse habitat.  The team will strive to recommend simple, straightforward conservation tools for restoration on public and private lands for habitat improvement.

The main objectives of the site conservation team include:

  • Evaluate the conditions of the riparian habitat along the streams within the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River watershed and identify a suitable area for the recovery population

  • Recommend land management practices to improve and reconnect habitat 

  • Identify financial resources through agreements and partnerships that are available to private landowners to improve Preble’s mouse habitat

PMJM is listed by the US FWS as a threatened species. It is only found along the Front Range of Colorado and Southern Wyoming in riparian areas below 7,600 feet. Fortunately, suitable habitat for PMJM exists in the Poudre Basin because of compatible land management.

To learn about the SCT, including how local landowners and community members can participate in PMJM conservation, see this information sheet. To see who serves on SCT, see this roster.

Financial opportunities are being developed to support potential future projects with private landowners and public land managers.

Learn more about Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse, see the US FWS web site. To see PMJM in action, check out this video.

Megan Maiolo-Heath