Will the wildlife of the Great Plains ever be restored to even a small fraction of their former abundance, or will human indifference continue to cause the region's ecological decline? If the state wildlife management agencies of the region have their way, certain wildlife will continue to be allowed to decline unchecked.

This is the conclusion PCA came to after reading responses to a letter we sent to the 11 states within the historic range of the black-tailed prairie dog. The prairie dog is a keystone species of the Great Plains, so important that many other species either cannot survive or fare poorly without it.

Because the black-tailed prairie dog has declined by 99 percent across its historic range, PCA, Biodiversity Legal Foundation and others petitioned the federal government in 1998 to list the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In February, the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that this listing action was "warranted, but precluded" because of budget constraints and a heavy workload, and left prairie dog management and conservation up to the states to figure out. In response, we sent a letter to the 11 state wildlife agencies, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) asking that they take 6 immediate actions to remove existing threats to the black-tailed prairie dog (See Home Range, Spring 2000).

Responses were few, just as on-the-ground protections have been few. In fact, we only heard back from 5 of the state wildlife agencies. These responses ranged from the shortest letter we have ever received - one sentence from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department - to a 2-page letter from the Arizona Game and Fish Department alerting us that the state wildlife commission overturned its recent ban on participating in prairie dog reintroduction (a positive step, but still meaningless at this point to prairie dogs).

So we sent a second letter to the no-response agencies. The purpose of this communication was to let the agencies know we are still monitoring their actions and will take future legal action if the stalling continues. This second letter also reminded the states that they aren't off the hook with the Endangered Species Act. The FWS will review the black-tailed prairie dog's ecological status each year, and if the species' plight has not improved, may go ahead and list it as threatened. If that happens, states will have little control over species recovery requirements.

Three more states responded, leaving only South Dakota and New Mexico yet to respond. None of the responses, however, identified active, on-the-ground activities that address our 6 requests. Experience has taught us that this management problem can be solved, but because these agencies take the path of least resistance, constant pressure must be applied to the point that it's easier for agencies to deal with the problem than to deny it.

In an effort to prevent eventual ESA listing of the black-tailed prairie dog, nine of the 11 states have been working on a conservation plan (with Colorado and North Dakota refusing to join). To date, however, the plan is meaningless to prairie dogs, even if full of meaning to agency personnel. Most of the 11 state agenciesmet again in Austin, Texas in April to evaluate their progress. PCA has learned of no additional progress as a result of that meeting. One interesting point is that states with little public land (Nebraska) note this fact as one of the largest problems to restoring prairie dogs, while states with larger amounts of public land (Colorado) argue that too much emphasis is being placed on public lands to restore prairie dogs.

The states have until next February 4 to achieve improvements, at which time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will review its "warranted but precluded" listing decision, and possibly make a new decision. If the states really want to maintain control of managing the black-tailed prairie dog, they should immediately begin to earn that responsibility by protecting and restoring the species.

What you can do:
Write to the state wildlife agencies and urge them to fully consider PCA's recommendations to begin recovering this keystone Great Plains species. A list of names and addresses for each state wildlife agency can be found here.

Montana takes the lead in prairie dog conservation

Two days before this newsletter went to press, PCA received the latest draft of Montana's black-tailed prairie dog conservation strategy - a plan PCA continues to help create. We reported in our last newsletter that Montana had removed the only measurable goals of this plan. We are pleased to report that this latest plan now contains measurable goals once again! This makes Montana the only state among the 11 so far with a plan that, if implemented, just might result in on-the-ground improvements. Unfortunately, these goals do not go far enough. While PCA would like to see a ten-fold increase in the amount of prairie dogs in Montana (see p. 18), the new Montana plan calls for approximately twice the amount of prairie dogs known to exist today. We take this goal - as inadequate as it may be - as official written acknowledgement that Montana must significantly increase its prairie dog acreage.

Strict timelines to achieve this goal are also absent, making it rather meaningless for now. We still maintain hope that in the end, this plan may become a model for the other 10 states. In the meantime, much of the prairie dog ecosystem remains open for eradication.