- Author
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Publication Year
- 2022
- Species
- Mazama pocket gopher
- Region
- Puget Trough/Lowlands
- Habitat
- Upland Prairie
- Topic
- Rare Species Recovery
- Full Citation
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2022. Recovery plan for four subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher. Portland, Oregon. xi +33 pp.+ appendices.
Four subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher (Roy Prairie pocket gopher [RPPG], Olympia pocket gopher [OPG], Tenino pocket gopher [TPG], and Yelm pocket gopher [YPG]) found in Thurston and Pierce Counties, Washington, were listed in 2014 as threatened throughout their ranges under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. At the same time, a separate rule addressing these four subspecies under section 4(d) of the Act was promulgated when the subspecies were listed. This 4(d) rule exempts take for certain activities that promote the maintenance of open habitat or restoration of habitat conditions necessary for the conservation of the RPPG, OPG, TPG and YPG and/or promote responsible land uses and conservation efforts. In particular, these include general activities conducted on agricultural and ranching lands, regular maintenance activities at civilian airports, control of noxious weeds and invasive plants, maintenance of roadside rights-of-way, and limited activities on private landowner parcels. We expect the 4(d) rule to continue to promote private lands partnerships critical to the recovery of the four subspecies. Critical habitat was designated for the OPG, TPG, and YPG. All four subspecies have a recovery priority number of 6C, indicating each subspecies has a high degree of threat and a low potential for recovery, and is in conflict with construction or other development projects or other forms of economic activity. Existing regulatory mechanisms are inadequate to ameliorate species threats. The loss of natural ecosystem maintenance processes means that all four subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher (MPG) are management-reliant, and will require active ongoing management to maintain the prairie habitat characteristics needed for population growth and/or stability.
The goal of the recovery plan is to recover the RPPG, OPG, TPG, and YPG such that they no longer meet the Act’s definition of threatened and can be removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (i.e., delisted). To achieve this goal, this recovery plan identifies the following two objectives for the four Thurston/Pierce County subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher:
- Conserve, restore, and properly manage the quantity, quality, and connectivity (or configuration) of RPPG, OPG, TPG, and YPG habitats to address habitat fragmentation, degradation, or loss and ensure the long-term persistence and viability of each subspecies across its range.
- Address other known threats to ensure the long-term persistence and viability of each subspecies across its range.