spectr17
11-26-2002, 03:37 PM
Estimates of prairie dog habitat off
Colorado DOW says there's 7 times more than once thought
Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
November 26, 2002
Colorado has seven times as many acres of prairie dog habitat than previously estimated, according to a new survey by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
The Front Range and plains have 631,000 acres of habitat for the black-tailed prairie dog, far more than the 90,000-acre estimate by federal wildlife officials, said Larry Nelson, species conservation manager for the wildlife division.
And the new findings - results of a yearlong aerial study covering 28,000 miles - dwarf the National Wildlife Federation's 1998 estimate of 44,000 acres, Nelson said.
The federation, concerned at that time by the loss of more than 98 percent of the state's historic prairie dog habitat to ranching, farming, development and highway construction, commissioned a Montana company to survey the habitat.
In the wake of the estimate, the federation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the prairie dog as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in 10 Western states.
A subsequent study by federal wildlife officials concluded there were about 90,000 suitable acres for prairie dogs along the Front Range and in the eastern plains, the only homes for the black-tailed prairie dogs in the state.
The prairie dogs were then listed as a "candidate species" to be watched, but federal officials said they had neither the personnel nor the budget to list the species as threatened and to carry out a recovery effort.
Colorado's wildlife department, which had worked out an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to jointly try to recover the species, decided to conduct a comprehensive survey.
"We knew (the number of acres) was in error," said Russ George, director of the wildlife division, "and made it our goal to conduct a thorough rangewide survey that would result in the best science by which to study the species."
Steve Torbit, a senior scientist with the Wildlife Federation, said his group is pleased to have spurred the renewed research into prairie dogs.
"I'm gratified to know our petition forced the state to inventory prairie dogs and treat them like wildlife for a change," Torbit said.
"It's the first step toward developing a management plan."
Nelson said there are more than a dozen groups working on such a plan, which should be done this spring.
It includes an incentive proposal to pay ranchers and farmers for an easement to protect delicate lands, he said.
gerhardtg@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5202.
Colorado DOW says there's 7 times more than once thought
Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
November 26, 2002
Colorado has seven times as many acres of prairie dog habitat than previously estimated, according to a new survey by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
The Front Range and plains have 631,000 acres of habitat for the black-tailed prairie dog, far more than the 90,000-acre estimate by federal wildlife officials, said Larry Nelson, species conservation manager for the wildlife division.
And the new findings - results of a yearlong aerial study covering 28,000 miles - dwarf the National Wildlife Federation's 1998 estimate of 44,000 acres, Nelson said.
The federation, concerned at that time by the loss of more than 98 percent of the state's historic prairie dog habitat to ranching, farming, development and highway construction, commissioned a Montana company to survey the habitat.
In the wake of the estimate, the federation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the prairie dog as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in 10 Western states.
A subsequent study by federal wildlife officials concluded there were about 90,000 suitable acres for prairie dogs along the Front Range and in the eastern plains, the only homes for the black-tailed prairie dogs in the state.
The prairie dogs were then listed as a "candidate species" to be watched, but federal officials said they had neither the personnel nor the budget to list the species as threatened and to carry out a recovery effort.
Colorado's wildlife department, which had worked out an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to jointly try to recover the species, decided to conduct a comprehensive survey.
"We knew (the number of acres) was in error," said Russ George, director of the wildlife division, "and made it our goal to conduct a thorough rangewide survey that would result in the best science by which to study the species."
Steve Torbit, a senior scientist with the Wildlife Federation, said his group is pleased to have spurred the renewed research into prairie dogs.
"I'm gratified to know our petition forced the state to inventory prairie dogs and treat them like wildlife for a change," Torbit said.
"It's the first step toward developing a management plan."
Nelson said there are more than a dozen groups working on such a plan, which should be done this spring.
It includes an incentive proposal to pay ranchers and farmers for an easement to protect delicate lands, he said.
gerhardtg@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5202.