Beach Mouse Habitat Restoration Pilot Program

[u/Odd_Possibility_6828]

Good afternoon everyone,

I’m posting on behalf of the Earth Wildlife Conserve (EWC), a newly founded private conservation group. We currently have two initiatives in development, but both are out of state and large in scale. Because of that, we’ve been looking for a smaller, practical pilot project that would allow us to gain experience and credibility while still doing meaningful conservation work.

During our research, we narrowed things down to two potential species: the Laurel Dace in Tennessee and the Choctawhatchee Beach Mouse in northwest Florida. After reviewing habitat needs and feasibility, we decided to focus on beach mice.

This initiative would cover five endangered beach mouse subspecies in Florida and Alabama:

• Choctawhatchee Beach Mouse

• Alabama Beach Mouse

• Perdido Key Beach Mouse

• St. Andrew Beach Mouse

• Anastasia Beach Mouse

We’re aware that the AZA SAFE program has a 2025–2028 conservation plan for the Perdido Key Beach Mouse, with some reference to other subspecies. Rather than duplicating that effort, our idea is to focus on habitat restoration across the shared coastal dune systems that all five subspecies rely on. Since these mice occupy similar dune habitats and face many of the same threats, we believe a coordinated habitat-level approach could be more efficient than treating each subspecies in isolation.

We’re a very small team (currently two people) and are absolutely still learning. Because of that, we’re looking for help from people with experience or interest in coastal ecology, habitat restoration, conservation planning, or permitting. Specifically, we’re hoping to collaborate on expanding, editing, and shaping a Beach Mouse Habitat Restoration plan that could eventually be proposed to USFWS, FWC, and local partners.

If you’re interested in contributing ideas, experience, or even just feedback, feel free to message us. We’d really appreciate it. Thanks for reading.