Western WA gophers going on endangered species list

[bigtex]

W. Wash. gopher going on endangered species list
By Associated Press   Published: Apr 9, 2014 at 10:25 AM PDT

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans Tuesday to list four subspecies of Mazama pocket gophers as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Olympia, Roy Prairie, Tenino and Yelm pocket gophers are found only in Pierce and Thurston counties.

The Olympian reports  the decision follows more than a decade of debate, environmental studies and lawsuits.

Fish and Wildlife officials also have also designated 1,600 acres in Thurston County as critical habitat for the pocket gophers. A special rule will allow farming and ranching to continue.

The critical habitat proposed for the Roy Prairie pocket gopher is on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which has promised to preserve its prairie land.

A threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future if steps aren't taken to protect it.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/W-Wash-gopher-going-on-endangered-species-list-254573411.html

[pianoman9701]

I hope no one here owns land in Thurston and Pierce Co.s they were hoping to develop.

[Southpole]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/14/military-spending-millions-to-protect-gophers-while-workers-go-on-furlough/
Are we going to see homes being condemned? Is this the first step for government to steal people's land in the name of a supposed "endangered" animal?

[pianoman9701]

We'll see. And, I guarantee that if it happens, there will be those who speak out about how right it is to do so.

[jackmaster]

i like how ft lewis will preserve their prairie land especially after it gets lit up with howitzers and morters and all the other good stuff what a joke. they got bigger fish to fry than spending deneros on a pocket mouse that digs holes all over the damn place.....

[WSU]

Pocket gophers have been creating a lot of problems developing land for a long time here in Thurston County.  I'm curious how much worse it will make.

[pianoman9701]

I'm fairly confident it won't get better.

[Easy-E]

All species of gopher come straight from the pockets of hell.



All gophers on my property must die. 

[WSU]

I'm fairly confident it won't get better.

That's a very safe assumption. 

[Broken Arrow]

Oh boy...i can see it now:

WDFW combined with Gophers Forever and the Eastern European Crabgrass Foundation has posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to Sept. 7th, 2016 poaching incident of a juvenile collared pocket gopher.

[Ebell]

HSUS will match the 10K to make a grand total of 20K for any information leading to the arrest or conviction............

[baldopepper]

I'd like to help the gophers in eastern Washington go on the endangered list!!!  They're all over my place there and, of course, that brings in the badgers and they, of course, dig big holes that I'm constantly dropping a tractor wheel into and getting stuck!!!  Those badgers get pretty belligerent also, they actually step in front of the tractor and snarl at you, and I've had several challenge me when I was just walking across the field.  (Maybe I should live trap a few grophers over there and bring them over here and turn them loose.  Wonder if they'd know the difference )

[Jonathan_S]

Pocket gophers have been creating a lot of problems developing land for a long time here in Thurston County.  I'm curious how much worse it will make.

   Pierce too, around Yelm / Roy / McKenna particularly
 
It's amazing how they're endangered supposedly when everywhere they are has a healthy population. 

[Curly]

If I am not mistaken, the pocket gopher is the reason why the cross base highway through JBLM from Spanaway has been stopped. The western gray squirrel could have been the rodent to stop construction. ..... I didn't ask for clarification when someone told me what stalled construction.

[Curly]

I guess they are using more than just the Mazama Pocket gopher to try to stop construction:

Construction of the proposed highway endangers habitat for 19 state and federal listed bird species and 4 prairie dependent species. The rare wildlife at risk by the highway are streaked horned lark, Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, Mazama pocket gopher, western gray squirrel, and water howellia.

http://www.conservationnw.org/what-we-do/wildlife-habitat/cross-base