Gray wolf | flickr user Todd Ryburn

The Internet has informed me that it’s Endangered Species Day. Never heard of it? Well, neither had I, and it might have something to do with the fact that I (and presumably others) got a press release about it today, as opposed to well ahead of time when people could actually do something with it. But let’s not let that take away from a campaign with a simple and legitimate cause — making folks aware of the endangered animals in their midst.

Colorado’s Division of Wildlife helpfully lists many “species of concern” in Colorado and classifies them as federally endangered, federally threatened, state endangered, state threatened or state special concern.

On that list are some of the celebrities of endangered speciesdom like the gray wolf and black-footed ferret, as well as plenty of birds and fish that we city-dwellers might not think about all that often like the southwestern willow flycatcher (photo) and the bonytail.

One quick note regarding accuracy: a few sites related to endangered species oddly suffer from the same thing — they show “last updated” dates from a few years ago, but appear to be the authoritative sites. The Colorado Division of Wildlife site and the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program fit into that category, so I hope that the only out-of-date information on those sites is the last-updated date. Just in case, here’s a list of the federally endangered species (including plants) that occur in Colorado from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which says it was last updated today — just doesn’t include the state-specific information.

"An Entirely Synthetic Fish" was written by CU prof Anders Halverson.

In Colorado and across the country land managers spend millions of dollars and hours battling invasive species: bugs, weeds, little critters.

And at the same time, land managers dump millions (literally) of rainbow trout into rivers and lakes across the country.

In his new book, “An Entirely Synthetic Fish,” CU professor Anders Halverson describes how we got here (to this place where one trout is stocked for every three people in the United States) and what that means for aquatic ecology, especially other fish.

From the Daily Camera:

Halverson has fished his entire life. While growing up in Denver in the 70s, the rainbow trout was the state fish. The irony of honoring a non-native fish as a state symbol, and the contradiction of getting out into the wild to catch a farmed fish, both became a central consideration in Halverson’s book.

“There’s a fascinating paradox about fishing. A lot of anglers I see fishing as an escape of civilization and industrialization or a spiritual escape from society,” Halverson said. “Yet you have a paradox of most of the fish they catch are the product of industrialization.”

The introduction of rainbow trout has also had environmental consequences. The fish are thought to hybridize with native trout, which affects their genetic structure and ability to survive.

There are more than a dozen types in Colorado with many considered either, threatened, endangered or at-risk by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Colorado’s state fish, the greenback cutthroat is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.

A wolverine | DailyCamera.com

In Colorado that means wolverines (one of which was spotted in Colorado this summer for the first time in 90 years), mountain plovers, white-tailed prairie dogs and two kinds of sage grouse are being re-evaluated. And the feds are also looking into a half-dozen other Colorado species for the first time, including two animals (American pikas and black-tailed prairie dogs), three plants (Parachute penstemons, DeBeque Pachelias and Pagosa skyrockets) and an insect (Susan’s purse-making caddisfly).

From today’s Denver Post:

From wolverines to black-tailed prairie dogs, dozens of species here and across the nation are being re-evaluated for possible threatened or endangered status.

The Obama administration is taking a fresh look, in many cases under court order, at Bush administration rejections of special status. A move to prevent extinction of more plants and animals could limit housing construction and energy development.

Anne Ruggles, of Bear Canyon Cosulting, LLC, holds a male Preble's meadow jumping mouse in her fingers on Boulder open space near South Boulder Creek.

Today, federal officials are expected to propose protection for an additional 19,000 acres of Front Range habitat for the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, a threatened species.

New species under consideration for protection have “aesthetic, ecological, education, historical, recreational and scientific value,” and those facing extinction “could be indicators of bigger ecosystem problems that could hurt us,” said Bridget Fahey, regional director of endangered species for the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Science shows that when you start removing species from our ecosystem, things can start to break down,” Fahey said.

Read the full story at DenverPost.com.

A pika muses on its pile of rocks Aug. 13 at Sourdough Mountain in North Cascades National Park. Photo by Jason Bruggeman, Beartooth Wildlife Research via Seattle Times.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is studying whether pikas — fuzzy little cousins of the rabbit that prefer chilly temps and high altitudes — need protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Environmentalists are concerned that warming global temperatures will push pikas higher and higher, eventually eliminating their habitats altogether. (Temperatures above 78 degrees can kill the squeaky little critters.)

In Colorado, pikas are easy to find on the slopes of the state’s many fourteeners, but scientists are concerned about their futures. Rsearchers have recently been studying the pika populations in Rocky Mountain National Park, trying to figure out how many of the animals live there now so they can better understand how those populations are affected as the climate changes.

Historical baseline data for number of pikas in the park don’t exist.

“The way it was, there were so many pikas no one thought to count them,” said Judy Visty, park ecologist.

Scientists in the North Cascades National Park are starting a one-year study that is also aimed at establishing a baseline count of pika populations.

This from today’s Seattle Times:

Some wildlife advocates warn that pikas, with their preference for the cool, lofty high country, are at risk of extinction throughout the West by the end of the century as the climate warms. They have sued the feds to determine whether the animal should be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

But others say losses of some local populations don’t spell extinction risk for an animal still abundant in many places.

A decision is due from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by February.

Meanwhile, in a separate effort, scientists are studying pika populations at North Cascades National Park, in a first-ever, one-year pilot study funded by Seattle City Light, which tracks habitat in the North Cascades, where it operates hydroelectric dams. The study is intended to build a baseline of data about where pika are presently found.

“Climate change is the biggest issue facing our national parks,” said Chip Jenkins, park superintendent. “Scientists have determined that our climate is changing, and it is changing rapidly. What we are doing is looking for key indicators, key species that are likely to be the ones that show the first response to climate change.”

Read more of this story at www.seattletimes.com, learn more about our local pikas from Stephen Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman, authors of the Boulder County Nature Almanac, at dailycamera.com or read about the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent decision to study whether 20 plants, six snails, two insects and a fish may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Gray wolf, AP file photo

Following the federal government’s announcement that gray wolves in Idaho and Montana would be removed from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, officials from both states said they planned to host wolf hunts this fall to cull the animals.

Now,  Idaho has announced plans to reduce its wolf population to almost half its size:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Department of Fish and Game commissioners may phase in state hunting quotas for wolves as part of efforts to reduce their numbers to 518, about half the estimated 1,000 predators now roaming the state.

Jim Unsworth, the agency’s deputy director, said Wednesday the population goal set a year ago remains “biologically and socially” responsible.

But he says reaching that level may take more than a single year. Wolf hunt quotas are due to be set at the Fish and Game Commission meeting Aug. 17 in Idaho Falls.

Last month, wildlife officials in neighboring Montana voted to let hunters there shoot 75 wolves starting in mid-September.

Lawyers for environmental groups who have sued over the federal government’s May decision to delist wolves oppose such hunts, but are waiting to see how many wolves Idaho will allow to be shot before deciding whether to ask a U.S. District Court judge to halt them.

Wolves in Colorado — if there are any — would still be federally protected. Most people do no acknowledge any wolf population in Colorado, but every now and again rumors of a wolf in Colorado keep the mystery alive.

On Dec. 4, 2007,  two volunteers spotted a large, black canine in Rocky Mountain National Park that may have been a wolf, but the sighting hasn’t been confirmed. The animal was seen in the Moraine Park area, and the track of a wolf or a wolf hybrid was found and recorded in that area soon after the sighting. That is not enough evidence to support the existence of wolves in the state. But even a mention of them has caused debate and discussion about an animal that now symbolizes more than a villain in a modern Colorado.

Read more of Camera reporter Zak Brown’s story here,