WildEarth Guardians

Friday, February 2, 2007
Groundhog day: Western take on an Eastern tradition?

Activists pushing for a regional adaptation starring the prairie dog
Contact: Tom Sharpe The New Mexican

Assuming it's sunny today, if a prairie dog were to emerge from hibernation and push aside the snow from its burrow entrance, it might see its shadow, get scared and scurry back underground, heralding six more weeks of winter.

But Santa Fe's cold weather almost always stretches into March or later. And New Mexico's Gunnison prairie dogs generally don't start venturing above ground until March.

Nevertheless, an environmental group is pushing for a Western version of Groundhog Day, substituting prairie dogs for their Eastern cousins.

"Our intention is to create a groundhog/prairie dog partnership," said Lauren McCain, deserts and grasslands program director for the WildEarth Guardians in Denver. "The prairie dog needs some friends."

The custom of predicting winter's end, based on whether groundhogs emerge Feb. 2, is believed to have been brought to America from Germany. Punxsutawney, Pa., has been staging its Groundhog Day since 1887.

Last year, both Santa Fe and Albuquerque declared Feb. 2 as Prairie Dog Day. This year, Boulder and Lakewood, Colo., did. And WildEarth Guardians will be visiting schools today to try to drum up recognition of what McCain called a "Western icon."

"We would love it if (other) towns would declare Prairie Dog Day," she said. "We could have Eastern and Western kind of events (to) honor our burrowing mammals."

Prairie dogs can become pests when their colonies spill over into playing fields, grassy parks and gardens. Since 2001, the city of Santa Fe has required prairie dogs to be relocated humanely from construction sites.

Despite overpopulation in some areas, prairie dogs' overall numbers have been decimated over the last century by the destruction of 98 percent of their original habitat, according to recent studies. McCain says all five species need protection:

Gunnison prairie dogs, with tails shorter than other species, are found in the Four Corners area, at elevations from 5,000 to 11,000 feet, including Santa Fe.

Utah prairie dogs, the smallest species, are already designated as threatened.

Black-tailed prairie dogs live in a narrow band of the Great Plains, stretching from Texas to Canada.

White-tailed prairie dogs inhabit Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

Mexican prairie dogs are an endangered species in a small area in central Mexico.

WildEarth Guardians has sought to have the Gunnison prairie dog declared a threatened species and the Utah prairie dog upgraded from threatened to endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service turned down the first request last year and has yet to respond to the second.

"Prairie dogs are what's known as a keystone species," McCain said. "That means they actually create habitat. That's why we want to focus on prairie dogs because of their biological importance." She said they're food for hawks, eagles and foxes, and their burrows provide shelter for rabbits, burrowing owls and endangered black-footed ferrets.

While the Gunnison, Utah and white-tailed species go into a true hibernation for several months each winter, black-tailed ones found in the Denver area generally do not, McCain said.

"But because we've had so much snow in Denver this year, they actually (have gone) into hibernation," she said. "People are a little bit worried about them right now because they're used to seeing prairie dogs in the winter, but a lot of them are just sleeping. They should be coming back up around March, maybe the end of February if the weather is nice."

Copyright 2007 Santa Fe New Mexican - Reprinted with permission