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Stop Prairie Dog Poisoning!

Forest Service Proposes Widespread Poisoning of Prairie Dogs Across South Dakota and Nebraska

Poisoning threatens recovery of black-footed ferret, rarest mammal in North America

CHADRON, NE -- The U.S. Forest Service today released its draft plan that may drastically increase the poisoning of prairie dog colonies this fall throughout the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota and the Oglala National Grassland in Nebraska. Widespread poisoning could kill tens of thousands of prairie dogs, which would jeopardize the continued recovery of the critically imperiled black-footed ferret, the most endangered mammal in North America. The plan would also harm other wildlife that depend on prairie dogs for food or prairie dog burrows for shelter, including rare species such as swift foxes, burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks.

“By destroying prairie dog colonies, the Forest Service is threatening the recovery of wild black-footed ferrets, one of the nation’s great Endangered Species Act success stories,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Taxpayers who have invested millions of dollars in black-footed ferret recovery will now be paying to destroy the most important and successful ferret habitat on earth, in Conata Basin, South Dakota.”

While the plan permits poisoning of prairie dogs throughout the National Grasslands, the main target for poisoning is an area of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland called the Conata Basin. This region is vital to recovery of the endangered black-footed ferret, as it houses the largest population of prairie dogs on public lands in the Great Plains. Continued recovery of black-footed ferrets depends on maintaining large colonies of prairie dogs, on which black-footed ferrets are completely dependent for food and shelter. Of the approximately 500 black-footed ferrets living today in the wild, half live in Conata Basin. Three of the five proposed poisoning options would reduce prairie dogs to the point where ferrets could no longer survive in this region.

In addition to providing food and shelter for black-footed ferrets, science has shown that prairie dogs play a key role in the ecosystems of the Great Plains. The Conata Basin sustains a newly-reintroduced population of rare swift foxes and some of the largest populations of rare burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks in the northern Great Plains.

“Twenty-five years ago, we were granted a rare second chance at saving the black-footed ferret from extinction,” said Sterling Miller, senior wildlife biologist at the National Wildlife Federation’s Northern Rockies Natural Resource Center. “After years of making black-footed ferret recovery a priority on these lands, the Forest Service is doing a complete one-eighty. In doing so, the Service is abandoning its responsibility to maintain healthy wildlife and habitat on these public lands for future generations of Americans to enjoy.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners have spent millions of dollars recovering black-footed ferrets and restoring them to the wild. Grazing records indicate that the public lands in Conata Basin feed the equivalent of 700 head of cattle per year – even in non-drought years. At an estimated profit margin of $27 per head of livestock, millions of dollars spent on black-footed ferret recovery would be sacrificed for $19,000 of private profit per year.

Prairie dog colonies currently occupy less than five percent of the National Grasslands targeted by this plan, and prairie dogs living on public lands adjacent to private lands are already being regularly poisoned by the Forest Service. The state of South Dakota also poisons prairie dogs on private lands next to these public lands. Because there are no restrictions on poisoning prairie dogs on private lands, it is essential that colonies on public lands remain large enough to fulfill their ecosystem function, including supporting black-footed ferret populations.

“With no science to back their claims, the Forest Service is preparing to needlessly eradicate numerous species that make their home in the National Grasslands,” said Steve Forrest of the World Wildlife Fund. “America’s grasslands are a significant part of our natural heritage. We should be celebrating and restoring these special places, not destroying them.”

The public has 45 days to comment on the poisoning plan before the Forest Service issues its final Environmental Impact Statement. According to Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation and World Wildlife Fund, there is still time to work out a compromise that meets the needs of both ranchers and wildlife in the region.

Forest Service Seeks Input on Prairie Dog Management & Ferret Re-Introduction Plan

The prairie dog has a special place in the hearts of western folks, and a special place in nature as a key species necessary for other wildlife including ferruginous hawk, burrowing owls, swift foxes, badgers, and others. The prairie dog is a Forest Service Sensitive Species, and we need strong protections for prairie dogs and their habitat, so much of which has been lost due to past poisoning campaigns. We need decisions concerning their management to be based on science, not politics, and the scientific evidence is clear that prairie dogs and their habitat are an essential part of the grassland ecosystem. The Thunder Basin National Grassland Prairie Dog Management Strategy is Really Just an Increase in Poisoning:

• The current Thunder Basin management plan only allows prairie dog extermination in cases where prairie dogs are overrunning cemeteries or buildings.
  
• The proposed amendment would expand the use of poisoning and other lethal means of control to the entire National Grassland – even in areas designated for the reintroduction of the endangered black-footed ferret!

We need you to speak out in favor of protecting the prairie dog, which is the key strand that holds together the grassland ecosystem.

Prairie Dogs are Disappearing: Nine wildlife species are directly affected by the decline of the prairie dog population. What we do to the prairie dog affects all these other animals. Over the last 150 years, prairie dogs have declined by over 95%. Declines continue today. During the last 15 years, there has been a further 60% decrease of large prairie dog complexes. Four of the seven largest complexes have been decimated. Although prairie dogs are visible on the landscape and many small towns have increased, many more have declined or vanished. For example, last year alone, almost all of the 100,000 acres on Pine Ridge Reservation vanished, a colony larger than all Front Range colonies combined. Prairie Dogs are a Keystone Species
Prairie dogs are a key species to nine other species, such as hawks and owls, foxes and ferrets, and many others that depend on prairie dogs for food, or their burrows for shelter. If we want all these Great Plains species to survive, we need a healthy prairie dog population. Prairie dogs are like a canary in the coalmine. If their population declines and dies out, others will soon follow. The loss of prairie dogs has implications that go beyond just having a thriving prairie dog population.

Poisoning is Cruel and Inhumane: Poisoning our wildlife, including prairie dogs, is cruel and inhumane. Poison causes death by internal bleeding that can take up to 72 hours. We must stop sending the message that it is okay to poison our native wildlife and destroy our natural heritage to accommodate commercial interests. Land managers are proposing methods to kill prairie dogs that have been outlawed for use on dogs, cats, and other pets years ago.

This is about Balance: Prairie dogs exist on less than 1% of the Great Plains. Scientists say that if this downward trend continues burrowing owls, black-footed ferrets, and other wildlife will disappear too. As good stewards of the land, we need to ensure healthy populations of wildlife for our future generations.

TELL THE FOREST SERVICE TO DISCONTINUE POISONING TO MANAGE PRAIRIE DOGS

1. They should NOT be Poisoning Wildlife on Our Public Lands. Most Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to scatter dangerous poisons across the landscape. Other animals, such as burrowing owls, rabbits, and songbirds, are likely to be killed by residual poison. Poisoning is cruel and inhumane, and requires that poisons be reapplied on a regular basis, continually adding these dangerous chemicals into our environment. Poisoning prairie dogs turns our public lands into killing fields and their own burrows into torture chambers and graveyards.
   
2. Translocate instead of Killing Prairie Dogs. Translocating prairie dogs to other sites and implementing other non-lethal alternatives provide a better alternative to using poisons.If the Forest Service feels it must remove prairie dogs to accommodate the whims of grazing permittees, this should be done using non-lethal means that allow struggling populations to be built up elsewhere.
   
3. No Prairie Dog Killing in Ferret Recovery Areas. Science has long since established that black-footed ferrets depend almost exclusively on healthy and robust prairie dog populations. Poisoning praiirie dogs in ferret recovery areas would threatens the survival of the most endangered land mammal in the western hemisphere.
   
4. Science, NOT Politics Must Guide Decisions. Decisions about protecting wildlife such as prairie dogs need to be made on the basis of sound science and research, not politics. Scientists agree that the population of prairie dogs is declining rapidly, and is now only 5% of what it was over a century ago. Scientists agree that prairie dogs are a key species on which so many others are dependent for survival. Should the prairie dog disappear, many other species will be threatened. The Forest Service must not undertake a major expansion of prairie dog poisoning just because a small but influential group of ranchers demands it; the agency has a responsibility to promote multiple use on its lands, including maintaining native wildlife.
   
5. The Area Where Prairie Dog Shooting is Banned Should be Expanded, Not Reduced. In the current land-use plan, 58,000 acres have been set aside as a “no shooting” area for prairie dogs in order to foster black-footed ferret recovery. The new plan amendment would reduce the acreage where shooting is prohibited, and craft new boundaries that would make it harder for shooters to recognize closure areas. Prairie dog shooters can blow away hundreds of prairie dogs in a single day, decimating colonies. In addition, a recent University of Wyoming study shows that the stress associated with shooting causes the prairie dogs that survive to decline in health and experience reduced pup survival. Tell the Forest Service to maintain of increase the area on the National Grassland where this wasteful practice is banned.
   
6. The Proposed Poisoning Plan is Bad for Wildlife. The current “Prairie Dog Management Plan” is a win-lose proposition: Livestock interests win, and native wildlife loses. The Forest Service needs to craft a balanced plan that balances the private interests of grazing permittees (who graze our public lands at a tiny fraction of the price of leasing private grazing land) with the public interest in maintaining and promoting the viability of rare native wildlife. In addition, tell the Forest Service that your tax money shouldn’t be used to poison native wildlife. There needs to be an alternative where prairie dog losses are completely offset by expansion elsewhere on the Grassland.

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO THE RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL:

Mary H. Peterson, Forest Supervisor
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests
Thunder Basin National Grassland
Douglas Ranger District
2250 East Richards Street
Douglas, WY 82633

Attention: Marilee Houtler

Comments may be Faxed to:
307-358-3072

Email Comments to:
comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-douglas-thunder-basin@fs.fed.us

The Forest Service Public Scoping Notice and the project map are available online:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/mbr/projects/forestplans/in_progress/index.shtml

THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING PRAIRIE DOGS AND OTHER SPECIES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS!