Feds Held off Updating Status of Prairie Dog


May 5, 2004

By Steve Miller, West River Editor

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has received so much new information about black-tailed prairie dog populations that it delayed its annual update on the animal's status as a candidate for the threatened species list.

For now, the prairie dog remains a low priority for listing on the threatened species list, according to the service's report filed in the Federal Register on Tuesday.

Normally, the annual review contains an updated finding for each candidate species. The service said it would publish a finding on black-tailed prairie dogs when it finishes evaluating the new information.

Pete Gober, field supervisor for the service in Pierre, said a status update could come out soon — or at least before the next review is issued next year.

In early 2000, the service found that listing the prairie dog as a threatened species was warranted but precluded by higher priorities. In the update issued last year, the service said the animal's status remained "warranted but precluded."

The prairie dog also retained its priority listing number of 8 in the report filed Tuesday. A priority listing number of 1 has the highest urgency, Gober said.

The service said it has received significant new information about prairie dogs from the National Wildlife Federation, Forest Guardians, and the states of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.

Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., called on the Bush administration to quickly review the new information and drop the prairie dog from the threatened species candidate list. "Scientific evidence and common sense clearly confirm what South Dakotans have known for years: The black-tailed prairie dog is far from endangered," Daschle said in a news release.

A nearly completed aerial survey in South Dakota has found that the state already has met its goal for acres inhabited by prairie dogs, according to George Vandel, assistant director of the Wildlife Division of the state Game, Fish & Parks Department.

The survey, which does not yet include results from Dewey County, shows the state has 359,509 acres of prairie dogs, well over the total goal of 199,000 acres. Of the total, 180,793 acres of prairie dogs are on tribal lands, Vandel said.

The state has 178,716 acres of non-tribal land occupied by prairie dogs (not including Dewey County), also well over the goal of 168,554 acres, he said.

Meanwhile, South Dakota officials are moving toward adopting a statewide prairie dog management plan, Vandel said.

A working group of ranchers, environmental interests, and staff members from the GF&P and state Department of Agriculture will meet on Tuesday, May 11, with GF&P Secretary John Cooper and Ag Secretary Larry Gabriel.

The plan being considered is a version of one the state developed two years ago, Vandel said. That plan was shelved until better population figures could be gathered.

That plan ran into opposition from some groups, including the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, who were worried that the plan could end up with farmers and ranchers losing control of their operations.

Proponents said a statewide management plan would help prevent the prairie dog from listing as a threatened species by demonstrating to the Fish & Wildlife Service that the state is serious about conserving prairie dogs.

The U.S. Forest Service said its prairie dog management practices would depend in part on provisions in the state plan.

Vandel said he doubted that the diverse members of the working group could reach consensus. But he said Cooper and Gabriel want to have a management plan in place by July 1.

The Fish & Wildlife Service's Gober said he hopes a compromise can be reached that allows for some prairie dog control yet offers a way to have prairie dogs and associated species, such as black-footed ferrets, on the landscape.

"Everybody wants everything," Gober said. "But there ought to be some way, if not to meet in the middle, to meet partway."

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

Updated 19 July 2006 .