Expert: Thunder Basin Prairie Dog Plan Adds Link to the Food Chain
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November 23, 2009
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Strengthening the food chain could help an endangered species return to healthy numbers. This is the premise behind a recently unveiled plan for managing black-tailed prairie dogs on the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. The goal is to improve habitat in order to boost the number of prairie dogs to the point where black-footed ferrets - a Wyoming native species - could be reintroduced.
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance wild species program director Duane Short says the ferret depends on the prairie dog for 95 percent of its diet. As prairie dogs declined in numbers, the ferret came close to extinction.
"It's not like the black-footed ferret can run out to McDonald's and grab a bite to eat. The ferret diet is pretty much limited to black-tailed prairie dogs."
The catch in all of this is that the black-tailed prairie dog is considered a pest by some landowners because it digs underground dens and tunnels. As a result, Short says, the new plan promises to be aggressive about minimizing conflicts between them. It contains provisions to move problem prairie dog colonies - which will help spread the species into more public land areas - and, in cases of last resort, to poison them.
The poisoning provision has raised hackles in the conservation community, but Short says he doesn't expect it to be routine. He is focusing on the bigger picture, he says, because restoring prairie dog populations is for the good of more than just black-footed ferrets.
"Other species will benefit from this plan, too. The mountain plover, swift fox, burrowing owls, ferruginous hawks - all of these are facing their own issues when it comes to long-term survival."
If the prairie dogs multiply as expected, black-footed ferrets could be reintroduced as early as 2010.