Endangered Species - Delisting Rule Vacated on March 25, 2011
Description
The West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel is a small nocturnal mammal. It weighs 3-5 ounces and is about 10-12 inches from
the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. Their fur is light brown to reddish brown in color with belly fur being gray at the base and white at the tips. It does not really fly but glides; patagia (skin folds that connect the front and rear legs) allow it to glide while using its tail as a rudder to control direction.
WVNFS mate at about 1 year of age and females give birth after a period of about 6 weeks. They will have 1-2 litters of 1-6 pups during the year. Pups are born blind and furless and are nursed by the female for about 2 months. Males do very little in relation to parenting.
WVNFS do not hiberate during the winter but instead continue to forage for food. Their diet consists mainly of truffle-like fungi but they are also known to consume lichen, nuts, seeds, buds and other plant matter.
Habitat
The WVNFS habitat is best described as mixed mesophytic forest in the boreal regions of the WV highlands. Mixed mesophytic forests contain a mix of spruce and hardwoods. The habitat range is normally above 3000 feet but WVNFS have been found as low as 2200 feet. The extremely fractured habitat region encompasses 7 counties in WV and 1 in VA, including Tucker County.
They often make their nests in tree cavities and woodpecker holes but have been known to nest in 
dense branches near the tops of evergreen trees.
Threat
The greatest threat to the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel comes from timbering and development, which would result in additional fragmentation of the already highly fragmented populations.
For more information about the WV Northern Flying Squirrel, please visit www.saveoursquirrel.org.
WE SAID WE WOULD AND WE DID!
WE WON!!
Ginny Sails Back onto the Endangered Species List
In a Precedent Setting Decision Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that “Ginny” the West VirginiaNorthern Flying Squirrel gets full federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. The ruling against the federal government and the US Fish and Wildlife Service is effective immediately. Friends of Blackwater has worked to insure full protection for Ginny for seven years and we have finally WON!!
Click below to hear Ginny celebrating her victory!
Click here to see video of our testimony to Congress on this issue.
Last Stand Made for Endangered West Virginia Northern FlyingSquirrel
Coalition Files Suit to Restore Protections Stripped Away from “Ginny” by Bush
A coalition of conservation groups, including the Friends of Blackwater, Center for Biological Diversity, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wild South, filed suit on November 12, 2009 in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn a Bush-administration decision stripping the West Virginia northern flying squirrel of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Click here to read the Press Release.
Click here to read the Associated Press Coverage.
Click here to read the Complaint Filed in Federal Court.
Click here to read the Rule as it appeared in the Federal Register.
Click here to read the News Release issued by USFWS
Click here to read the Press Release issued by FOB.
Click here the Press Release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Click here to read Ken Ward's Article that appeared in the Charleston Gazette on 08/26/2008 .
Click here for the article from the Charleston Gazette on 08/25/2008.
Click here for the article from the Charleston Daily-Mail on 08/25/2008.
