1997-06-13_REPORT - M1981302 (15)

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s. III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII e—IMIr /4 999 STATUS OF THE MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE (Zapus hudsonius) ON BOULDER CITY AND COUNTY OPEN SPACE LA#PI�EIVED FINAL REPORT JUN 151997 19 September 1996 Division of Minerals 8 Geology David M. Armstrong', Clinton Millen, Michael Sanders', and Martin Margulies' 'Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2 City of Boulder Open Space and Real Estate Department, 3 Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to place on record results of field studies to ascertain the status of the meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius) on Open Space properties owned and managed by the City of Boulder Open Space and Real Estate Department and by the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department. This study had a modest goal: to determine whether the meadow jumping mouse persists on City and/or County Open Space lands in Boulder County, Colorado. That goal was met: meadow jumping mice were documented on two City of Boulder Open Space parcels, the VanVleet and Gebhard parcels, parcels adjacent to each other along South Boulder Creek. The meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius) is a boreal species, ranging from southern Alaska across Canada to Labrador and southward into the Missouri and Ohio Valleys and along the Appalachians to Georgia. Populations in and near the Southern Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico apparently are isolated geographically from the conterminous range of the species to the north and east (Krutzsch, 1954; Hafner et al., 1981). Therefore, the genetic status of populations along the Front Range is of interest. However, such work was well beyond the intent of this study. The biology of the meadow jumping mouse is poorly known in Colorado. Whitaker (1972) and Fitzgerald et al. (1994) reviewed the literature on the species and provided selected references. Over its broad range, the meadow jumping mouse seems to prefer mesic habitats (Whitaker, 1972). Most reports from the Colorado Piedmont are from areas of rather luxuriant herbaceous vegetation, whether grasses or forbs, although there also are reports from shrubby habitats and more xeric uplands (e. g., Stoecker, 1992. Harrington et al., 1995). Diet has not been studied locally, but probably includes seeds, small fruits, fungi, and insects, as it does elsewhere (Whitaker, 1972). Quimby (1951) reported home ranges of 0.08 to 0.35 ha. Home ranges apparently shift seasonally (F. A. Harrington, pers. comm.), although no definitive pattern has been reported. The animals burrow to nest, often under cover of a down log or a cutbank. 1