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Plan removes protections, threatens dozens of wildlife species CHADRON, Neb. - Today, the U.S. Forest Service approved a new plan to allow poisoning of prairie dog colonies almost anywhere on the Buffalo Gap, Fort Pierre, and Oglala National Grasslands in South Dakota and Nebraska. The plan also mandates poisoning if prairie dog colonies expand beyond 3 percent of the landscape. Only a few areas - those designated for black-footed ferret recovery - remain off limits to poisoning for now and a second plan to mandate poisoning in these ferret recovery areas is pending. The plan comes on the heels of massive poisoning over the last three years of all prairie dogs within ? mile of private property on Buffalo Gap and ? mile from private property on Oglala and Fort Pierre National Grasslands. Thousands of acres of prairie dog colonies - prime wildlife habitat - were destroyed. With today’s decision, all prairie dog colonies not within ferret management areas, even those far from private lands, are open to poisoning.In addition, the recent spread of sylvatic plague, accidentally introduced to the U.S. from Asia this century, to South Dakota has caused significant losses of prairie dogs on these National Grasslands. Prairie dogs have no known resistance to the disease, which can wipe out whole colonies. Three years of poisoning combined with plague has reduced prairie dog colonies to about one percent of the grasslands affected by today’s decision. Prairie dogs are key components of the grasslands which they inhabit. They provide food, burrows, and other benefits that sustain many of the other species that live on the prairie.“America’s grasslands are part of our natural heritage,” said Jonathan Proctor, Great Plains representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “We should be celebrating and restoring these special places, not spreading poison across them. After years of making prairie dog recovery a priority, the Forest Service is doing a complete 180-degree about-face.”During the plan’s public comment, over 50,000 Americans asked the Forest Service to protect prairie dogs for the benefit of all the grassland wildlife that depend on them.“The decision to roll back protections and poison ever more prairie dogs on these public lands makes a mockery of the public’s wishes and of the laws that govern public lands,” said Lauren McCain, Desert and Grasslands Projects Director for WildEarth Guardians.The additional poisoning authorized today could kill tens of thousands more prairie dogs, which would further harm other wildlife that depend on prairie dogs for food or their burrows for shelter, including rare species such as swift foxes, burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks. The new plan also virtually guarantees that restoring healthy populations of these associated species will never occur on the affected public lands.The public has 45 days to appeal this poisoning plan. Defenders of Wildlife and WildEarth Guardians will appeal in an attempt to bring common sense back to the management of these public lands. |
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