COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Federal wildlife officials say there is no end in sight to the controversy surrounding a mouse blamed for costing Western developers millions of dollars because it is protected as a threatened species.

Ralph Morgenweck, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Thursday a decision is expected next year on whether the Preble's meadow jumping mouse should be protected. The mouse's habitat includes Colorado's heavily populated Front Range and parts of Wyoming.

Morgenweck said he is concerned residents might think the "game is over" because a recent study by a Denver scientist found the mouse was not a genetically distinct subspecies - a key finding in giving the mouse protection.

If that work stands up, it would mean the Preble's mouse is the same as the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse found in Wyoming and South Dakota. Morgenweck said that finding could play a role in the agency's preliminary decision on protecting the Preble's mouse.

However, he said environmentalists might ask that the Bear Lodge mouse be listed as a threatened species - a request that would mean more studies and potentially more lawsuits. If the two mouse species are the same, any decision on the Bear Lodge mice might affect Preble's mouse habitat.

"We're looking really closely at the Bear Lodge and will almost certainly push to get it protected under the Endangered Species Act," said Jacob Smith, executive director of the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems. "The Bear Lodge is in trouble for a similar reason as the Preble's - their habitat is getting blasted."

The government has declared 57,000 acres of Colorado and Wyoming as critical habitat for the Preble's mouse. El Paso County, home to bustling Colorado Springs, has spent about $600,000 preparing a mouse management plan, while developers and landowners say they have spent millions more modifying projects or coming up with mitigation plans to protect the mouse.

The wildlife service has estimated El Paso County would bear the greatest cost - as much as $103 million during the next decade - for protecting the mouse and restoring its habitat.

AP-WS-05-14-04 1503EDT