I have been living in this county for 30 years and I have never seen a Preble's jumping mouse. Not one. I have seen the signs along Plum Creek telling me I can't walk down there anymore because that's where they live now, though. So that's kinda cool.

Susan and I looked into buying a piece of land in Larkspur last year until we found out that most of it was worthless because of this dear little, as yet unseen by me, jumping mouse. It seems you can't do anything within 300 feet of Preble habitat if you are unlucky enough to own some of it. Needless to say, we didn't pursue the purchase.

Now before you start calling me some sort of probable Preble mouse hater, let me assure you I'm not. I'd kinda like to see one of those little guys jump 3 feet in the air, as claims say they can, to be truthful. I've never seen anything like a jumping mouse, although the flying fish down in Mexico were pretty cool. I'm sure a jumping mouse would be at least as amazing as a flying fish, so please don't think I don't warm up for the little guys. I do.

No, I kinda like the idea of this supposedly unique little leaper living here locally, even if I've never seen one. I've yet to see a mountain lion either, but its kinda cool knowing they are still around. So its not that I don't like them at all.

Its just, you see, there is no definite proof that there is anything all that unique about these rodents. Other than they jump, I mean. As a matter of fact, there is a bit of a suspicion out there that they are actually the same as other western jumping mice living other places. Imagine that.

What this is about is seizing land in the name of preservation of an animal that may or may not be endangered anyway. Any more than any other animal hereabouts, at least. And really, its not about the mouse at all. Its about saving ecosystems and wildlife habitat in general. Conserving open space. Saving riparian areas. Using the power of the government to do all these wonderful things. I get all that, and therein lies the problem.

The problem is who shoulders this. The landowner, that's who, to start with. There is so much red tape ahead of anyone trying to do anything in Preble country that no one is going to buy or invest in it. Even if you own it you can't do much more than look at it. Unless, of course, you want to take the federal government to court. Even assuming you can afford that. Take a look at bustling downtown Larkspur. Not much going on down by the creek, is there?

What's happening here is that conservationists and open space advocates get more land set aside for their agendas at no cost to them. At an economic cost to us locally, where our dear jumpers call home.

So lets call this what it is. A desire to save land, not mice. And then lets talk open space rather than endangered species. And then maybe we can talk about funds to purchase those properties involved and turn them into public properties.

What the Endangered Species Act has done is effectively condemned property at the expense of those who should have the right as landowners to have a say in the use of that property. To me, and this is just me, that's the main problem here. Something about rights we should hold to be self evident.

I am in complete agreement with saving open space and riparian areas. I absolutely love the whole concept of land preservation. Nobody in this county is a bigger fan of it than me. But lets call this Preble's mouse issue what it is, which is a land grab, and dismiss it. Then let's find workable solutions for everyone involved.

And then I can still be assured I might still see a jumping mouse. Someday.