A young black-tailed prairie dog plays with an older male at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's prairie dog exhibit. (Jon Hayt - AP) _____Map_____ • Black-tailed prairie dog habitat E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post

By Mark Matthews
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 6, 2001; Page A03

MISSOULA, Mont.

The future may be brighter for the much maligned black-tailed prairie dog, once considered the scourge of the Great Plains because it can trim grasses earmarked for livestock, chew up underground cables, undermine fence posts, and harbor fleas carrying bubonic plague.

For decades, most ranchers and farmers, with government financial support, have tried to eradicate the football-sized, barking rodents. But now, some private landowners have joined with environmentalists and government and tribal scientists to ask Congress for money to help protect the animal's habitat.

"The fact that such diverse groups, who traditionally cannot agree on most issues, actually agree on this voluntary incentives approach to restore prairie dogs is precedent-setting," said Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance, based in Bozeman, Mont.

In June, the contingent, led by Bob Luce, interstate coordinator for the 11-state Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Conservation Team, visited senators and House members from the prairie dog states, as well as representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the staff of Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton.

They are asking for $115 million to restore and protect 830,000 acres of private and tribal land for prairie dogs over 10 years. Much of the money would be used to pay landowners to refrain from poisoning or allowing commercial shooting of prairie dogs on their property. Grazing livestock would be still permitted and nuisance animals could be removed. First-year costs of $17 million would protect about 267,000 acres, Luce said.

The group spoke with lawmakers about how the farm bill, which is up for reauthorization in 2002, or other measures introduced this year, could provide funding.

Although the largest prairie dog towns exist on public lands, Luce estimates that about two-thirds of prime habitat is in private hands. Farmers, ranchers and tribal governments that own these lands rely on them for their livelihood and many say the prairie dogs ruin the range for grazing livestock. Some also make money charging sportsmen for the privilege of shooting the animals for target practice.

"We strongly believe that the ability of our program to prevent listing depends upon creation of a new and innovative landowner incentives program," said South Dakota rancher Leonard Benson.

But not everyone agrees that the rodent ruins grasslands. "In a normal rain year, cattle and other wildlife will get more use out of the [weeds] on a prairie dog colony because the plants keep growing back," said Mike Fox of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society in Denver.

"They don't totally ruin it. But once the growing season ends and the grass is gone, all most people see is a barren piece of land. In dry years, it's bad all around," said Fox, who managed the prairie dog complex on Montana's Fort Belknap Indian Reservation for years.

Why the sudden change of heart with ranchers?

Prairie dog burrows once were splashed across an estimated one quarter of the 400-million-acre sea of grass that comprised the Great Plains. But wholesale poisoning wiped out many towns, as did farmers plowing. Sylvatic plague (bubonic plague in humans) continues to occasionally wipe out entire towns. Today, biologists estimate the rodent has been confined to less than 1 percent, or 1 million acres, of its historic habitat.

Other species that live in or around the prairie dog ecosystem have also diminished. These creatures may seek shelter or nest in the burrows and tunnels, eat the prairie dogs, or easily find other prey in the trimmed grasses of the towns. Help for the prairie dogs should also help bolster populations of sensitive prairie species such as the burrowing owl, mountain plover, prairie falcon, swift fox and golden eagle, as well as the blackfooted ferret, one of the rarest animals on earth.

Only six complexes, or groups of colonies, of black-tailed prairie dogs of more than 5,000 acres are known to exist in the United States, plus one in Mexico. Two exist on National Grasslands, one in South Dakota and one in Wyoming. Four of the complexes are on Native American reservations.

The reason so many prairie dog towns survived on tribal lands was from neglect, Fox said. "When the government came out in the 1930s and 1940s to poison the prairie dog they didn't provide enough funding to eradicate the tribal lands. Now, the tribes are carrying a lot of the burden for managing prairie dogs. We want to make sure the tribes aren't left out again."

Fox said the tribes will participate in any program on the same government level as the 11 prairie dog states.

In 1998, after being sued by three conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared that the black-tailed prairie dog warranted protection as an endangered species but the agency could do nothing for it because it lacked funding and other species took a higher priority. With that breathing space, 11 Great Plains states began forming their own conservation plans, asking ranchers and farmers to participate.

"The reason ranchers and farmers are interested in protecting a species they were raised to hate is simple: to prevent its listing as an endangered species," said Scott Klundt of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Washington. "Once a species is listed, then comes habitat designations and restrictions on land use. We're working with ranchers and other industry groups to find some plausible solution. We don't want to see the prairie dog disappear, but we want to see them controlled because of the health issues."

Sterling Miller of the National Wildlife Federation said he has seen "incipient progress towards protecting the prairie dog" since his group and others pressed the Fish and Wildlife Service into studying the species. "There are not any more prairie dogs now than there were when we sued, but there aren't any less. The decline may have stopped."

If Congress approves the funding for landowner easements, prairie dog habitat could almost double across the Great Plains, to about 1.9 million acres.

"It's a true win-win situation for all of the prairie dwellers, wildlife and humans alike," Luce said.

But Proctor warned that any program protecting the rodent in the long run still has a way to go. "Let's keep in mind that 1.9 million acres is still a very small fraction [0.5 percent] of the Great Plains," he said.