Grassland Predators

The Great Plains, once known as the "Serengeti of North America," is a land embraced by ceaseless wind with a horizon rimmed by grasses. Nearly 200 years ago the Lewis and Clark expedition entered the Northern Great Plains on their Journey of Discovery. The prairie ecosystem they encountered was one present-day Americans can only dream of a vast sea of native grasses that supported a multitude of wildlife. Antelope, bison, deer, eagles, elk, ferrets, grizzly bears and wolves all lived on the Great Plains together.

Today the largest native grassland predators - grizzly bears and wolves - are gone, killed off to make "room" for the arrival of cattle and sheep. Many of the native predators still found on the Northern Great Plains - the black-footed ferret, swift fox, burrowing owl and ferruginous hawk - are threatened with extinction or face an uncertain future, largely due to the precipitous decline of the prairie dog ecosystem.

At the time of Lewis and Clark's travels there were literally billions of prairie dogs on the Great Plains. Many prairie animals are attracted to prairie dog towns for the food and shelter prairie dogs and their burrows provide, as well as by the diverse vegetation that prairie dogs create through their constant grazing. One Montana study found 163 vertebrate species associated with prairie dog towns! Unfortunately, habitat loss, poisoning, recreational shooting and plague have reduced prairie dog numbers to the point where they now survive on less than one percent of their historic range. Several predator species that depend on, or are directly associated with, prairie dog towns are also in serious jeopardy.

Protecting and restoring all prairie grassland predators is critical to maintaining the vitality of the Great Plains. Predator Conservation Alliance seeks to expand and protect a system of secure habitats capable of sustaining grassland predators in the High Plains. PCA believes that protecting the prairie dog ecosystem is the single most important step toward supporting and restoring existing grassland predators in the High Plains. During the next five years, PCA will make significant progress toward the restoration of the prairie dog ecosystem to a minimum of 10 of suitable habitat on public lands in the northern High Plains.