SAN FRANCISCO, CA — On Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity sent the U.S. Department of the Interior a notice of intent to sue to force a response to a petition seeking federal protection for the American pika, a small alpine mammal threatened by global warming. Rising temperatures from greenhouse gas pollution have led to dramatic losses of pika populations and could eliminate the species from large regions of the American West by the century's end. More than a third of documented pika populations in the Great Basin mountains of Nevada and Oregon have gone extinct.

The Center petitioned to list the pika under the federal Endangered Species Act in October 2007, triggering a deadline of Jan. 1, 2008, for the first required "90-day finding" on the petition. The pika joins the polar bear, ribbon seal, Kittlitz's murrelet, 12 penguin species, and two corals in a growing group of species imperiled by global warming for which the Center is pursuing federal protection. Thus far, only the coral species have been formally protected, but a final listing determination for the polar bear is due on January 9, 2008.

"The American pika is the American West's canary in the coal mine and needs immediate protection," said Dr. Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center and one of the primary authors of the petition. "The pika is adapted to life in the cold and thrives in the high-elevation mountain ranges of the western United States. As temperatures rise, pika populations at lower elevations are being driven to extinction, pushing the pika further upslope until there will be nowhere left for it to go."

The American pika is a furry, rabbit-related mammal with a distinctive squeaky call. It inhabits the boulder fields and adjoining meadows of windswept mountain peaks, where it spends summers diligently gathering bundles of flowers and grasses for winter sustenance. Adapted to cold alpine conditions, pikas can die from overheating when exposed to temperatures as low as 80°F for just a few hours. Although they can typically avoid this lethal heat by seeking cool crevices and remaining inactive during warm periods, rising temperatures from global warming threaten pikas by shortening food-gathering time, changing the types of plants available, shrinking foraging habitat, reducing insulating snowpack, and, most directly, killing the animals through overheating.

In the Great Basin mountains, researchers have found that the range of the American pika is retreating upslope at an accelerating pace as temperatures warm. According to climate experts, temperatures in the western United States in this century will increase twice as much as they did in the past century and perhaps more, proving particularly devastating to pikas at lower elevations and altitudes in the West.

Endangered Species Act listing will provide broad protections to the pika, including a requirement that federal agencies ensure that any action carried out, authorized, or funded by the U.S. government will not "jeopardize the continued existence" of the species or adversely modify its critical habitat, as well as requiring the preparation of a recovery plan.

"This illegal delay in taking action to protect the American pika is, unfortunately, not surprising from an administration that has at every turn blocked meaningful action in addressing the climate crisis," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's climate program. "The survival of the American pika, and that of hundreds of similarly imperiled species, hinges on achieving immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but we're running out of time."

Contact Info:

Kassie Siegel
Tel : 760-366-2232 x 302
Cell : 951-961-7927

Website : the Center for Biological Diversity