| Update
on the Legal Front: One Element of the Campaign to Protect
the State’s Largest Complex of Black-tailed Prairie
Dog Colonies
The state’s largest complex of Black-tailed
Prairie Dog colonies and all of the associated wildlife that
depend to varying degrees on the habitat and/or food base
they provide received a welcome reprieve from destruction
on the morning of April 2. An attorney working for the Logan
County Commission withdrew a request for a temporary injunction
designed to force five ranch landowners to remove cattle so
the county could enter their land (without permission of the
landowners) to distribute Rozol poison with the intention
of eradicating all of the prairie dogs. It is the site being
considered for an experimental reintroduction of the endangered
Black-footed Ferret.
Three of the ranch families own approximately
10,000 contiguous acres, which contain prairie dog colonies
extending over more than 5,000 acres. This is the largest
prairie dog complex know to exist in Kansas and it conceivably
supports the largest gathering of Burrowing Owls. They arrive
each spring to nest and raise their young in unoccupied burrows.
Other wildlife prominently observed on the properties last
year included a den of Swift Foxes, a dozen or more hawks
at any one time (especially Ferruginous Hawks), Golden Eagles
and two Bald Eagles. Ornate Box Turtles were frequently observed
during the survey of the colonies in July 2006, as were Black-tailed
Jack Rabbits and Cottontails.
The court hearing scheduled for Wednesday April
4 was canceled. Logan County County Commissioners decided
to forgo their request for a temporary injunction. They will
be seeking a permanent injunction in late August to force
ranchers to remove cattle under orders when they intend to
launch future poisoning campaigns. The temporary injunction
would not have served their purposes because label restrictions
preclude the use of Rozol at this time of year.
From our perspective at Audubon of Kansas, this
reprieve presents us with an opportunity and an obligation.
Our responsibility is to proceed with partnerships working
with the landowners of properties containing the largest colonies
to diminish colony expansion and dispersal of prairie dogs
along the border on to the surrounding lands where they are
not welcomed. Larry Haverfield will be completing vegetative
buffers and we will build fencing structures designed to further
discourage dispersal from this large prairie dog complex.
Some targeted selective control measures will be necessary
on both sides of the boundary, but wholesale killing and eradication
of prairie dogs will not be necessary to manage the problem.
We will strive to document success and adapt management measures.
The importance of the area for other wildlife will be further
documented.
If all goes well, the interests of landowners
on “both sides of the fence” will be protected.
We are also hopeful that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consideration
of the site for an experimental reintroduction of Black-footed
Ferrets will proceed. They are still awaiting publication
of the Environmental Assessment on the proposal in the Federal
Register.
Ironically, delay of the experimental reintroduction
to this year may have been a blessing in disguise. The extended
series of blizzards, accumulation of deep snow and ice on
the ground for months this winter could have been devastating
to any young captive-raised ferrets that would have been released
in an unfamiliar environment. That is one more reason why
wild survival of the species depends on a number of geographically
spread reintroduction sites.
Larry Haverfield reports that the extended snow
and ice cover this winter appears to have reduced prairie
dog numbers by half, and that almost all of the Cottontail
Rabbits and most of the Jack Rabbits perished. Ferruginous
Hawks numbers also appear to be down in the vicinity. Remains
of several dead hawks were found, including one that had been
shot on the edge of the property.
The ranch landowners who have stood firm to
try to protect the natural integrity of their land, maintain
native wildlife populations on their land, and stand against
the legal assaults and the overzealous poisoning campaign
of the Logan County Commissioners are true American heroes.
Larry and Bette Haverfield, Gordon and Martha Barnhardt and
Maxine Blank all deserve a place in a contemporary “Conservation
Hall of Fame.” |
