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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 22 February 2020
Groups want cows corralled to protect jumping mouse habitat

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ing off areas important for
— Environmentalists have livestock and other animals
accused U.S. land manag- that call the arid region
ers of failing to keep live- home.
stock and wild horses out of In 2016, the U.S. Fish and
streams and other wetlands Wildlife Service designated
in Arizona's White Moun- nearly 22 square miles (57
tains, resulting in damage square kilometers) along
to habitat required by a about 170 miles (274 kilo-
rare mouse species found meters) of streams, ditches
only in the Southwest. and canals as critical habi-
The lawsuit filed Thursday in tat in parts of New Mexico,
U.S. District Court in Tucson Colorado and Arizona.
said the U.S. Forest Service Silver said by not protect-
is violating the Endangered ing these upper-elevation
Species Act and damaging meadows and streams, the
the New Mexico meadow loss of the mouse in eastern
jumping mouse's habitat by Arizona and the Sacramen-
failing to maintain fences, to Mountains in southeast-
round up feral animals and ern New Mexico is likely.
enforce grazing regulations Forest Service spokesman
on forest land in southeast- Shayne Martin said the
ern Arizona. mouse will benefit from
With tails that make up work being done to protect
most of their length, the ro- stream-side habitats.
dents are called jumping his Nov. 1, 2016, file photo, provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows Debra Hill weighing The agency in 2018 part-
mice because they can a New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, which was trapped during survey efforts on the Bosque nered with Trout Unlimited
leap more than 2 feet (0.6 del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, N.M. and volunteers on plant-
meters) into the air when Associated Press ing willows along Arizona's
frightened. Long tails help Centerfire Creek. q
the mice keep their bal- have documented exten-
ance, especially when they sive damage from horses
scale plant stems to reach and cows to the habitat of Computer scientist who pioneered
ripening seeds, one their the mouse.
main food sources. Officials in the Forest Ser-
The mice live near streams vice's Southwest region dis- 'copy' and 'paste' has died
and depend on tall grass puted the allegations in the
to hide from predators. lawsuit, saying the agency company that worked on
They hibernate for about has been working since the creating computer prod-
nine months, emerging in mouse was listed as an en- ucts. There, he pioneered
the late spring to gorge dangered species in 2014 concepts that helped
themselves before mat- to use new and existing make computers more
ing, giving birth and going fencing to control livestock user-friendly. That included
back into hibernation. They access to riverbank and such concepts as moving
normally live about three wetland areas all while bal- text through cut and paste
years. "We entrust the care ancing water rights. and inserting text by click-
and protection of these The battle over the mead- ing on a section and just
publicly owned treasures ow jumping mouse has typing.
to the Forest Service, but lasted years. The listing of He continued that work
it's completely abdicated the mouse as endangered when he joined Apple in
its responsibility. And the prompted the Forest Ser- 1980. At Apple, he worked
adorable jumping mouse is vice to fence off streams on a variety of products in-
being pushed closer to ex- and watering holes in some In this 1970s photo provided by Xerox PARC, Larry Tesler uses the cluding the Lisa computer,
tinction," said Robin Silver, national forests to protect Xerox Parc Alto early personal computer system. the Newton personal digi-
a cofounder of the Center habitat thought to be ideal. Associated Press tal assistant and the Macin-
for Biological Diversity, one Ranchers and others then tosh. After leaving Apple in
of the groups that is suing. complained that the fed- NEW YORK (AP) — Larry Tes- "The inventor of cut/copy & 1997 he co-founded an ed-
Staff members from the eral government was ler, the Silicon Valley pio- paste, find & replace, and ucation software company
center and the Maricopa trampling private access neer who created the now- more was former Xerox re- and held executive posi-
Audubon Society said they to public lands by cordon- ubiquitous computer con- searcher Larry Tesler. Your tions at Amazon, Yahoo
cepts such as "cut," "copy" workday is easier thanks to and the genetics-testing
and "paste," has died. He his revolutionary ideas," Xe- service 23andMe before
was 74. rox said in a tweet Wednes- turning to independent
He made using computers day. consulting.
easier for generations as a Tesler was born in New York In 2012, Tesler told the BBC
proponent and pioneer of and attended Stanford Uni- that he enjoyed working
what he called "modeless versity, where he received with younger people.
editing." That meant a user a degree in mathematics "There's a very strong ele-
wouldn't have to use a key- in 1965. ment of excitement, of
board to switch between In 1973, he joined Xerox being able to share what
modes to write and edit, for Palo Alto Research Cen- you've learned with the
example. ter, a division of the copier next generation," he said.q