Utah prairie dog under review for possible extra protections

DENVER — A federal judge is ordering the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider why adding more protections to the Utah prairie dog is not warranted, a decision that will likely have Utah wildlife managers furiously digging for even more ways to protect the rodent's population.

The Denver ruling on Tuesday says the federal agency must reconsider its 2007 decision to reject a higher level of Endangered Species Act protection for the animal, which is listed as "threatened" but not protected under the act.

In issuing the ruling, the judge said the agency needs to address why an 87 percent reduction in the prairie dog's range and an array of other threats are not enough to elevate its status.

The decision was hailed by environmentalists.

"This decision could breathe new life into efforts to recover the Utah prairie dog. If listed as endangered, the Utah prairie dog would see an end to their continued poor treatment, including federally authorized killing," stated Nicole Rosmarino, WildEarth Guardians' wildlife program director. "The service itself has treated this imperiled and ecologically important animal as a nuisance, so it's no wonder the Utah prairie dog is struggling."

Preferring to institute its own wildlife conservation efforts rather than coming further under federal purview, Utah has spent nearly $1.9 million over the past five years to preserve Utah prairie dog habitat and to curtail disease.

A six-county area pilot project led by Iron County was implemented earlier this year to provide additional protections, including a transplant program that aims to remove the burrowing animals from private land where their presence has been causing a nuisance. Such trapping programs have include capturing the animals at the cemetery in Paragonah, Iron County, where they have dug holes leading to toppled headstones.

The transplant effort is a huge undertaking, however, because state wildlife officials estimate as much as 80 percent of the animal's habitat is on private land. The animals' presence severely curtails what a landowner is able to do with that property and a significant amount of development has been put in limbo because of restrictions that come under the Endangered Species Act.

This week's ruling was in response to a 2003 petition by WildEarth Guardians that requested the agency reclassify the Utah prairie dog as endangered. When the petition was denied in 2007, the environmental group filed suit.

According to WildEarth Guardians, an estimated 12,000 adult Utah prairie dogs remain from a population that once numbered close to 100,000.

Continued threats to the population include urban sprawl; unauthorized trapping, poisoning or shooting; drought and disease.

The group said scientists consider prairie dogs to be a "keystone" species because they serve as prey for a large variety of carnivores and their burrows provide homes for other animals such as rabbits and badgers.

e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com