A tiny mouse that only grows up to 6 inches in length and burrows itself into the sand dunes of Alabama’s shoreline has been listed as “endangered” since the Reagan presidency.

For U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, it’s been far too long. Carl, during an appearance in Mobile Wednesday, told a group of businesspeople that he is attempting to get the Alabama beach mouse de-listed as an endangered species.

“It’s a rat,” Carl said during a speech before the Mobile Chamber. “I don’t like rats. I’d rather have a snake in my house than a rat.”

He added, with a warning to the furry mouse, “The rat is mine this year. We will make that one of the targets. That’s in our crosshairs now.”

Related content: Alabama beach mouse helped build the dunes that protect our coast

Carl’s concern is that the beach mouse continues to require beachfront developers to obtain special permitting before they can proceed with a project, driving up costs. He did not say whether there was one project or a specific developer raising a concern.

But the explosion of development along the Baldwin County coastline is one of the main reasons why the elusive beach mouse has been listed as “endangered” since 1986, according to federal assessments.

And in three previous federal reviews since 1986, the beach mouse’s potential for recovery remains murky. The mouse’s recovery is “in conflict with economic activities, more so today than at the time of the listing, which justifies its endangered classification and further elevates its priority ranking,” according to the last review conducted in 2019 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“The mouse’s status is improving, and a number of recovery actions have been completed, but given pressure from development and increases in storm intensity, it is not yet recovered and remains endangered,” said Noah Greenwald, the Endangered Species Director with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Denise Rowell, spokesperson for the agency at the Alabama Ecological Services field office in Daphne, said her office would welcome a meeting with Carl to show him the role in overseeing the endangered or threatened species assessments.

Mouse scrutiny

Carl’s comments come at a time when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is conducting a five-year status review of 67 Southeastern species, including the Alabama beach mouse. The five-year reviews, according to the agency, are meant to ensure that listing classifications under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 are accurate. And the reviews are meant to recommend changes in status, where appropriate, based on the latest science and analysis.

The current five-year review seeks information on a number of items including the species biology, habitat conditions, conservation measures, threats and status changes.

Carl’s comments come at a time that a working group, assembled by House Republicans, is scrutinizing the Endangered Species Act of 1973, after a federal judge overturned a Trump era decision to delist the gray wolf.

Carl, in a statement provided to AL.com, called the beach mouse’s continued listing as endangered as a “perfect example” of the federal government’s “unnecessary big government rules and regulations.”

Carl said that the beach mouse’s population has rebounded and “is very strong today,” though its status as endangered remains unchanged.

“The thing that bothers me is the endangers species list,” said Carl. “Look, no one cares more about the environment like I do. I bought wetlands behind my house so they can remain wetlands. But (the endangered species list) is a misnomer. They use it as a way to stop and slow down construction from a permitting process. It’s a rat. You cannot eradicate rats.”

Carl’s focus on the beach mouse stems from his inclusion in the U.S. House’s Western Caucus’ Endangered Species Act Working Group. The group was formed in July to examine how the law is being implemented by federal agencies.

The group, which consists solely of Republicans, has a goal of producing policy recommendations aimed at reforming the Endangered Species Act “to the benefit of the American people and species conservation.”

According to the group, since 1973, approximately 1,700 species have been listed as threatened or endangered while only 3 percent have been considered recovered and delisted.

An “endangered species,” according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, is one that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. A “threatened species” is on that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Endangered species

Alabama, with 151, has the third most endangered or threatened species in the U.S., trailing only Hawaii (484) and California (286). Biologists have attributed this ranking to the state’s large number of freshwater rivers and creeks contributing to a high number of unique species.

Rowell said the federal agency has “plenty of endangered species success stories in Alabama, including one that involved a joint effort between an auto manufacturer and environmentalists.

Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing USA Inc. announced in 2021 an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity and Tennessee Riverkeeper. As part of that agreement, the company announced it was investing up to $6 million to protect the spring pygmy sunfish and its unique habitat adjacent to a new auto plant in Huntsville. The agreement surfaced after a year of negotiations, endangered species consultations, meetings with city planners, attorneys, landowners, etc., said Rowell.

“The completion of this initial phase has resulted in tremendous benefits for the spring pygmy sunfish, while simultaneously allowing business to grow and providing opportunities for continued economic development in that area,” Rowell said.

Carl said it’s the prevention of economic activity that concerns him the most along the coastlines where the beach mouse has long called home.

One high-profile example occurred in 2016, when officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that the state did not receive the required permits to build the governor’s beach house in Fort Morgan. Former Gov. Robert Bentley’s administration was supposed to submit a Habitat Conservation Plan before construction, which is required before the necessary building permit is issued. His office did not but proceeded with construction anyway.

Threatened habitat

Construction aside, past hurricanes and sea level rise are also causing havoc on the mouse’s habitat, according to the 2019 review of the beach mouse.

The Alabama beach mouse is very much an Alabama mammal – the mouse’s habitat stretches from the tip of the Fort Morgan peninsula in the west to Perdido Pass and Ono Island in the eastern portion of Baldwin County.

The historical habitat range was about 8,000 to 9,000 acres of habitat, though that is now believed to be down to below 2,500 acres and mostly occurring on separated public lands of Fort Morgan State Park, Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, and Gulf State Park, according to the federal government’s 2019 review of the beach mouse.

An estimated 90-95% of the front sand dunes where the beach mouse reside were destroyed from powerful hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. But analysis in recent years shows that the beach mouse recolonized areas from which they have removed from Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina.

Federal officials, in the 2019 report, also say they are concerned about global climate change and seal level rise having an adverse effect on coastal ecosystems and wildlife populations, including the beach mouse. About half of the 55-mile open-water shoreline in Alabama has been receding 2-5 feet per year in recent decades, the report notes.

Carl, thought, called the mouse population “strong, healthy and resilient” and that it was “way past time for the Alabama beach mouse to be removed” as an endangered species.

Congress has the authority to delist endangered species, and efforts are underway to do so with the Yellowstone grizzly bears, and all gray wolf populations.

The House Natural Resources Committee, in April, approved legislation to permanently remove the gray wolf from the list of endangered species and restore authority to control the animal’s population to state lawmakers and state wildlife officials.

The wolf was delisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Trump administration. A federal judge then ruled last year that the wolf should be added back to the list because the agency failed to show how wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and portions of the West without protection under the Endangered Species Act.