Endangered or threatened? Feds review pocket gopher protection request

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to conduct a year-long status review of the Wyoming pocket gopher to see if the animal requires federal endangered species protections. The small, rare burrowing rodent is known to exist only from Adobe Town through the Atlantic Rim area south of Interstate Highway 80. Agency officials have completed an initial 90-day review of a petition to list the Wyoming pocket gopher as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Pat Deibert, acting director of the USFWS Cheyenne office, said this week that the agency will now undertake a more thorough study of the Wyoming pocket gopher to determine whether the USFWS will propose adding the species to the endangered list at a later date...