They get federal farm subsidies, subsidized federal land
grazing, and free prairie dog poisoning from the state's taxpayers, and now they
want the state's taxpayers to pay them even more by suing them. Total farm
bill subsidies for Charles Kruse and his 3 brothers from 1995-2003: $98,485.41.
And the total for all 15 landowners in Conata Basin: $582,600.34
AP Exclusive:
Ranchers to Sue State over Prairie Dogs
CHET BROKAW
Associated Press
January 25, 2005
Black-tailed Prairie Dog Listserv
PIERRE, S.D. - Landowners in southwestern South Dakota are asking the state to
compensate them for losses caused by black-tailed prairie dogs that moved from
federal land onto the ranchers' private land.
The lawsuit will be filed in state court "in the near future," the
landowners' lawyer, James Hurley of Rapid City, told The Associated Press on
Tuesday.
The approximately 60 landowners filing suit have lost about $5 million because
the state failed to control the prairie dog population in the area around the
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, said rancher Charles Kruse of Interior.
The lawsuit alleges that the state Agriculture Department and the state Game,
Fish and Parks Department did not comply with state laws related to the
reintroduction of the endangered black-footed ferret and the management of
prairie dogs, the ferrets' main food.
A 1992 state law allowed the two departments to participate in the programs to
reintroduce the black-footed ferret, but it set several conditions. One of those
conditions said private landowners had to be compensated if increases in the
prairie dog population were needed.
Prairie dog numbers skyrocketed in some parts of southwestern South Dakota in
recent years because of drought and a halt in poisoning on federal land while
federal officials studied whether to designate the prairie dog as an endangered
species.
The drought and prairie dogs destroyed grazing on parts of the Buffalo Gap
National Grasslands. The critters also moved from the federal grasslands onto
adjacent private lands.
Kruse said South Dakota law required state officials to prevent prairie dogs
from moving from federal land to private property, and the damage done by those
prairie dogs hurt the ranchers' ability to make a living on their own land.
"The South Dakota state Constitution says you're not to take land from
private individuals without compensating them," Kruse said.
State Game, Fish and Parks Secretary John Cooper said Tuesday he had not yet
seen the lawsuit. Little could be done to control prairie dogs while federal
officials were deciding whether to designate them as endangered, he said.
The U.S. Forest Service could not poison prairie dogs on its grasslands during
that study period, Cooper said. If prairie dogs had been poisoned on adjacent
private land, a new wave would have moved back in within a few week, he said.
"I don't know what else we could have done," Cooper said. "We
certainly couldn't have controlled prairie dogs on Forest Service land. We don't
have any right to go on their land."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in 2000 that sufficient evidence existed
to warrant listing the prairie dog as a threatened species but it would not do
so because it had to deal with higher priorities.
After further population reviews, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced last
year that the black-tailed prairie dog was no longer a candidate for listing
because it was not likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
The state then started poisoning prairie dogs on private land in the area last
summer. Poisoning started last fall to kill prairie dogs on federal land within
a half mile of private land after federal officials reached a settlement with
environmental groups who had sued.
South Dakota officials are working on a state management plan designed to
maintain a healthy prairie dog population while preventing the critters from
hurting landowners who do not want them. The state plan is intended to thwart
further efforts to get the prairie dog designated as endangered.
© 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10731146.htm
_________________
Jonathan Proctor, Northern Plains Program Director
Predator Conservation Alliance
2900 E. 23rd Ave., Gate 7, Denver, CO 80205-5735
Phone: 303-376-4982; Fax: 303-376-4806
http://www.predatorconservation.org
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Updated 19 July 2006.