Normally overshadowed by big game and charismatic carnivores, animals like the olive-backed pocket mouse and the red-lipped plateau lizard will get a little more notice in Wyoming now that state lawmakers have increased money for sensitive species.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed a bill last week that allocates $1.8 million of general fund money in the next two years to a program to manage the state’s 279 sensitive species. The funds become available July 1.  

The money replaces $1.2 million from Wyoming Game and Fish funds, derived from hunting and fishing licenses, that historically went to sensitive species. That $1.2 million now will be redirected toward programs to benefit hunters and anglers, according to officials. Only about 100 of the state’s 800 wildlife species are hunted, fished or trapped under supervision of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Game and Fish director Terry Cleveland explained that 235 of the state’s sensitive species are on the list simply because wildlife managers have inadequate information on their abundance and distribution.

“We have not, to this point, had the resources to determine if they are, in fact, there and what condition they are in,” he said.

Initial efforts will go toward creating an inventory of those animals, he said.
“If they do need to be on that list, we need to ensure that we have sufficient habitat to sustain them into the future,” Cleveland said.

He said on-the-ground efforts will go toward documenting “suites of species” in certain habitat types — sage grouse, pronghorn and pygmy rabbits in sagebrush habitat, for instance.

While the funds were allocated strictly for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the state’s wildlife managers will work closely with Freudenthal’s Endangered Species Act policy coordinator Ryan Lance, Cleveland said. The department could also make use of outside contractors for the effort.

Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance Executive Director Franz Camenzind applauded the money.

“I think we need to know more about these species,” he said.

Camenzind expressed worries about how the money would be administered.