Given recent information on the declining status of prairie dog species and the obligatory relationship between prairie dog conservation and ferret recovery, the need to focus greater management attention on sites with the best remaining prairie dog habitats, as well as those that have good future prairie dog management potential, has become urgent.
– U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) took a strong step toward black-footed ferret recovery in 1999 by identifying all prairie dog complexes that may qualify as eventual ferret reintroduction sites (ferrets live in prairie dog burrows and eat prairie dogs). The list includes nine primary, seven secondary, and several long-term potential reintroduction areas. Now that we know where to focus our ferret recovery efforts, we must ensure that all of these sites are managed for eventual ferret reintroductions. As of today, ferrets live in the wild in only six places in the U.S, and only one site is considered to have a strong chance of success.
In order to be downlisted from "endangered" to "threatened" under the definitions of the Endangered Species Act, the black-footed ferret needs to be successfully restored to at least 10 locations. Ferret populations need a prairie dog complex of at least 10,000 acres to ensure long-term survival. Identifying 10 sites has proven to be impossible since 10 areas of this quality probably no longer exist. But the new FWS list acknowledges this fact and therefore recommends that several more sites be managed for increased numbers of prairie dogs so that they will qualify in the near future.
The ferret makes a comeback...
The black-footed ferret was thought to be extinct by 1979 until a small population was found in Wyoming in 1981. When disease began wiping out this last group in 1986, FWS captured and bred the remaining 18 ferrets. Their offspring now produce hundreds of kits each year for release back into the wild. Since 1991, these ferrets have been reintroduced in six separate prairie dog complexes throughout their historic range.
Within these six recovery sites, wild ferrets number around 300 animals. But 225 of these individuals live in just one of the recovery areas — the Badlands National Park and Buffalo Gap National Grassland in southwest South Dakota. Considered by FWS to have the greatest chance of success, this is the only recovery area fully protected from prairie dog shooting and poisoning, which has not seen the drastic effects of plague (prairie dogs and ferrets have no immunity to this deadly disease). Ferrets are doing well enough on this site that reintroduction efforts here may soon no longer be needed.
...but uncertainty abounds
Plague and human intolerance for the ferret’s prey, the prairie dog, is jeopardizing ferret recovery efforts in the other five sites.
For example:
• North Central Montana – Supporting about 50 ferrets, this is the second most important ferret recovery area, and includes a National Wildlife Refuge, Bureau of Land management (BLM) lands and private land. Responsible for managing the National Wildlife Refuge, the FWS is making every effort here to increase prairie dog numbers and protect the animals from plague. However, the BLM is not following suit on adjacent land it manages. Although the BLM did institute a mandatory shooting ban on 15 prairie dog towns in this ferret recovery area (see related story on p.13), the agency allows continued recreational shooting on all other towns, and has refused to actively increase prairie dog populations or to reintroduce ferrets on BLM-managed lands.
• Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana – The reintroduction effort here is slow. Perhaps 15 ferrets survive, and reproduction is sparse. Tribal wildlife managers have protected prairie dog towns where ferrets are being reintroduced by banning recreational shooting, but this fall plague killed most prairie dogs and ferrets in one of two release areas, and shooting is still heavily promoted elsewhere on the reservation.
• Aubrey Valley, Arizona – An estimated 0-10 ferrets on private and state land have been slow in increasing population numbers. Shooting is allowed throughout the reintroduction area.
• Colorado/Utah – The Utah BLM released 70 ferrets here in October. Even though plague wiped out a good portion of the prairie dogs in this huge ferret reintroduction area, the state and the BLM still allow prairie dog shooting. Initial results are not promising: only seven ferrets have been spotted one month after release.
• Shirley Basin, Wyoming – The first ferret reintroduction site, Wyoming Fish and Game discontinued reintroductions here in 1995 due to a plague epidemic that wiped out most of the prairie dogs. A few ferrets are thought to be hanging on, however, and Wyoming may continue reintroductions in the future.
How you can help
FWS has identified nine ferret reintroduction sites on our public National Grasslands in the northern Great Plains. These National Grasslands are developing new management plans through the Forest Service’s Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revisions (see Home Range, Fall 1999). PCA has made seven recommendations to improve these proposed revisions, one of which is that the Forest Service should reintroduce ferrets wherever feasible, making certain these reintroduction sites remain as large as possible. The Forest Service should manage all nine sites identified by FWS for ferret reintroduction, but the current revision proposal will only manage three sites for the return of the ferret.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to help inform your community about the perils facing the endangered black-footed ferret, and ways the Forest Service can manage reintroduction sites to optimize ferret recovery.
