Pact Restricts Prairie Dog Poisoning in South Dakota

By Rocky Mountain News
October 7, 2004

Eight environmental groups and the federal government reached a settlement Wednesday over the government's plan to poison prairie dogs in South Dakota near Badlands National Park.

The groups sued the government in U.S. District Court last month, opposing the poisoning because it would further endanger rare black-footed ferrets in the area.

The ferrets aren't expected to be directly affected by the poisoning, but they feed on prairie dogs and a reduction in that food source could harm them, the environmental groups argued.

The government had agreed to poison prairie dogs in the Conata Basin and lift a ban on shooting them at the request of ranchers near the federal property who complain that prairie dogs are ruining their grazing lands.

Under Wednesday's settlement, the poisoning of the prairie dogs will begin as scheduled on Oct. 11, but it will cover less territory than the government had planned and will be kept farther from the ferrets' habitat.

The government also agreed not to lift the ban on shooting prairie dogs until it completes an environmental impact statement and considers nonlethal alternatives to control the prairie dogs.

The government also agreed to pay the environmental groups $8,000 in attorneys' fees.

Feds, Wildlife Groups Reach an Agreement on Prairie Dog Poisoning

By Colleen Slevin, Associated Press Writer
and Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer

DENVER - The federal government will begin poisoning prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota next week after reaching a compromise with conservationists in federal court in Denver.

Conservation groups and grazing interests both claimed victory.

In the deal reached Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to distribute poison on 5,000 acres instead of about 8,000 acres of Buffalo Gap National Grassland.  It includes Conata Basin, site of the most successful reintroduction area in the world for the endangered black-footed ferret.  More than half of the 400 ferrets remaining in the wild roam in the basin, south of Badlands National Park.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plans to lay out poisoned oats on federal land Monday. The poisoning was part of a state-federal prairie dog control plan announced by South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds on Aug. 13.

The plan came in response to complaints from neighboring ranchers that prairie dogs are spreading onto their property, damaging it for grazing.

Eight conservation groups sued, saying the poisoning would threaten the endangered ferrets by killing their main food source: prairie dogs. State poisoning experts say the poison poses virtually no direct threat to the ferrets.

Both sides began negotiating a settlement last week at the urging of U.S. District Judge Phillip Figa.

The 3,000 acres excluded under the deal includes prairie dog towns where ferrets have been spotted. The agreement reduces from one mile to a half-mile the buffer zone where the poisoning will take place in those areas.

Under the deal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to move any ferrets discovered in areas slated for poisoning. If the agency decides to keep them there, no poison can be left in the area.

The federal government also agreed to delay further poisoning until it studies the impact. The study will include an environmental impact statement, according to Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance, one of the plaintiffs.

Proctor, of Denver, said the Forest Service will also delay its earlier plan to lift the ban on shooting prairie dogs in Conata Basin until it finishes with the environmental impact statement.

In the future, the government agreed to also consider nonlethal methods of controlling prairie dogs, such as tall grass and to study the impact of poisoning before moving ahead with another round.

The settlement also allows any private landowner to request that only a quarter-mile next to his property be targeted for poisoning if he opts to fence livestock out, thereby allowing grass to grow tall. Federal land managers and environmental groups say prairie dogs are more likely to spread onto land with short grass.

Area ranchers and even some federal land managers, however, say prairie dogs have spread across both grazed and ungrazed rangeland during the recent drought.

Proctor said that although he is still upset that prairie dogs will be killed and their habitat damaged, the settlement helps rein in the government in the future and points it toward a more permanent solution to the tension between ranching and wildlife. He particularly praised the experimental grazing-free buffer zones, although he said only a few landowners have agreed to try it.

"We hope to replicate those (solutions) in the future once we can show here how they work," Proctor said Wednesday.

The conservation groups had sought to stop next week's poisoning on federal land until the impact on the ferrets could be determined.

But the government said it needed to act quickly to prevent prairie dogs on the federal land from spreading to neighboring private land, where they had been poisoned this summer through a state program.

Ranchers in Conata Basin say prairie dogs from the federal land have already begun to reoccupy the dog towns poisoned on their land.

"As long as they're starting to control prairie dogs in Conata Basin, we're moving in the right direction," Ken Knuppe of Buffalo Gap, president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said. "Two years ago, the Forest Service was telling us that the cattle would leave before they start poisoning prairie dogs on federal land."

Fall River County State's Attorney Lance Russell, a spokesman for a loose coalition of grazing groups and West River counties, said he, too, is glad there is going to be some poisoning. "If they can have some effective control in October, it will be beneficial."

But Russell said requiring another environmental impact statement could delay further poisoning for as long as a year.

He said an additional EIS likely wouldn't have been necessary if the record of decision on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland management plan had been amended before it became final.

Greg Griffith, deputy regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service, said the agency looks forward to "continuing efforts to manage the black-footed ferret population and the prairie dogs in a manner that is responsive to landowner concerns and meets the intention of the Forest Service Good Neighbor policy."

The government also agreed to pay $8,000 in legal fees for the conservation groups.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com 

Copyright © 2004 The Rapid City Journal
  Rapid City, SD

Deal Lets Feds Kill Prairie Dogs

The Denver Post
By The Associated Press

October 07, 2004 

The federal government will be able to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota next week after reaching a deal with conservationists Wednesday that they say helps protect the endangered black-footed ferret.

A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to distribute poison on only 5,000 acres instead of about 8,000 acres in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. It includes the Conata Basin - an area where more than half of the 400 wild ferrets left in the country live.

Following complaints from neighboring ranchers that prairie dogs are spreading onto their property, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plans to lay out poisoned oats on Monday.

Eight conservation groups sued, fearing ferrets, which depend on prairie dogs for 90 percent of their diet, would also end up dying.

Both sides began negotiating a settlement last week at the urging of a judge.

The land excluded under the deal includes prairie dog towns where ferrets have been spotted. It reduces from 1 mile to a half-mile the buffer zone where the poisoning will take place.

It also allows private landowners to request that only a quarter-mile next to their property be targeted if they also opt to include a fence allowing grass to grow tall. Prairie dogs are more likely to spread onto land with short grass.

In the future, the federal government also agreed to consider nonlethal methods of controlling prairie dogs, such as tall grass, and to study the impact of poisoning before moving ahead with another round.

Updated 19 July 2006 .