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DEADLINE for COMMENTS: May 12, 2006Dear BCA supporter,Until May 12 you can speak up for the wildlife of the Pawnee National Grassland, located in northeast Colorado.The Pawnee National Grassland is the only sizeable piece of federal land in all of northeast Colorado. Its 193,000 acres are home to shortgrass wildlife species such as prairie dogs, swift fox, hawks, eagles, burrowing owls, mountain plovers and more. Almost nowhere across the Great Plains are prairie dogs safe from unlimited shooting and poisoning. The Pawnee is one such place, but that may be changing. Pawnee National Grassland officials are preparing an Environmental Assessment on prairie dog management. Fortunately, they understand that the old plan – which calls for maintaining prairie dogs on a paltry one-tenth of one percent to one-half of one percent of the National Grassland – is out of date and must be updated. Unfortunately, their proposed action includes the same inadequate minimum requirement to keep prairie dogs alive on only one tenth of one percent (200 acres) on the entire Pawnee National Grassland! To add real injury to this insult, their proposed action also renews prairie dog poisoning and shooting on the Pawnee. Meanwhile, livestock continue to graze 100 percent of this National Grassland. The proposed prairie dog killing is on behalf of these livestock interests. We must demand a better balance between livestock management and wildlife management. SEND A MESSAGEPOWERFUL OPTION: Personalize your note – for example, have you ever been to the Pawnee National Grassland? If so, mention that in your message. Decision makers pay much more attention to personalized messages. You may also choose to print and mail your message.QUICK OPTION: If you only have a minute, copy the message below, as is, add your name and address, and email it to: comments-rocky-mountain-arapaho-roosevelt@fs.fed.us ***************************LETTER TEXT************************** Pawnee National Grassland Supervisor’s Office Attn: Karen Roth 2150 Centre Ave., Building E Fort Collins, CO 80526 Dear Pawnee National Grassland officials, Please accept these comments in response to the April 12, 2006 notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding prairie dog conservation and management on the Pawnee National Grassland. The Pawnee National Grassland is the only sizeable area of federal land in northeast Colorado’s shortgrass prairie. This fact makes it very important to the region’s wildlife, especially wildlife that is persecuted elsewhere such as the black-tailed prairie dog. The Pawnee is also important for possible reintroduction of native wildlife that is no longer present in northeast Colorado, such as the endangered black-footed ferret. In order to restore the ferret, prairie dogs must be allowed to expand. Prairie dogs once occupied 10-20 percent of the land within their range, which includes the Pawnee National Grassland. Today they occupy roughly one percent of the Pawnee. Livestock graze 100 percent of the Pawnee. Please do not promote a plan that allows this imbalance to continue. Rather, please actively manage to restore prairie dogs to a minimum of 10 percent (19,300 acres) of the Pawnee rather than the mere 200-acre minimum proposed. Please also include a minimum goal of at least one 10,000 acre complex of prairie dogs – the amount necessary for successful reintroduction of the black-footed ferret. This seems a very reasonable request for an agency with a multiple-use mandate. Until prairie dogs occupy a minimum of 10 percent of the Pawnee, they should be allowed to colonize any area that they choose, rather than only the areas that Pawnee managers find “desirable” for prairie dogs. They should also be protected from shooting and poisoning. The following methods to increase prairie dog colonies should be included in the plan: * keeping the Pawnee closed to prairie dog shooting; * maintaining existing poisoning restrictions; * relocating prairie dogs to start new colonies in desired areas on the Pawnee, especially when taken from adjacent private lands where they are not wanted; * dusting prairie dog burrows in key colonies to prevent spread of plague. The following methods to limit unwanted prairie dog colonization on adjacent private lands should also be included in the plan: * consolidating public lands around important prairie dog colonies and potential habitat to reduce public/private conflicts in these areas; * eliminating livestock grazing in areas next to private lands where prairie dogs are not wanted so that vegetation has the opportunity to grow and make the areas less suitable for prairie dog colonization; * eliminating livestock grazing during drought conditions in all areas where prairie dog expansion near private lands is not wanted. Please do all you can to increase and protect prairie dogs on the Pawnee National Grassland. Sincerely, [Your name and address] **************************END OF LETTER TEXT************************* PRAIRIE DOG FACTS: black-tailed prairie dogs once were found across the Great Plains from northern Chihuahua, Mexico to southern Saskatchewan, Canada. They occupied 40-80 million acres of this region, living in colonies that were often tens of miles long. Whereas they once covered 10-20 percent of this 400 million acre region, today they occupy much less than one percent. Today black-tailed prairie dogs are protected from poisoning and shooting in only a handful of sites, including the Pawnee National Grassland. In recent years drought and livestock overgrazing have caused prairie dogs to expand territory in search of forage. As a result, Pawnee officials plan to end the protections and begin the killing once again. On behalf of the prairie dogs, mountain plovers, burrowing owls, swift fox, ferruginous hawks, and all other wildlife that make the Pawnee National Grassland their home, thank you for sending your comments! |
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073 (307) 742-7978 - maggie@voiceforthewild.org |
