Boulder County sets session on prairie dog management

Many people in Boulder County are passionate on the topic of prairie dogs — and plenty of them disagree strongly with one another.

Partisans on both sides are likely to be on hand Tuesday night when Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff present an update and take public comment on management of the cute and often confounding creatures.

Jeff Moline, resource planning manager for Boulder County Open Space, describes the Tuesday session as a "stakeholders" meeting where several county representatives will provide updates on different aspects of prairie dog management, and members of the public will have a chance to provide feedback.

"Stakeholders" on this issue, according to Boulder County Senior Wildlife Biologist Susan Spaulding, include prairie dog advocates, county agricultural tenants and neighbors to county open space.

Moline spoke to the divide that is quickly evident any time the subject of prairie dogs arises. It starts, he said, with the fact that they are easily seen in many locations across the county.

"And I think absolutely there is a component of our citizenry that finds them very likable, and I think many people feel like they are an important component of the prairie ecosystem, and I think that really generates a lot of passion in some people," he said.

"That said, at the same time, there are groups of people who really feel like they can have a very detrimental effect on agricultural operations."

'An increasing problem'

"And I think absolutely there is a component of our citizenry that finds them very likable, and I think many people feel like they are an important component of the prairie ecosystem, and I think that really generates a lot of passion in some people," said Jeff Moline, resource planning manager for Boulder County Open Space. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)

Those in attendance Tuesday at the Ron Stewart Parks and Open Space Building in Longmont will hear that the population's range has grown since December 2016, the last time such a meeting was convened.

Spaulding said that prairie dogs are now on 3,132 county open space acres, an increase of 823 acres from a year ago.

The county classifies open space acreage as either habitat conservation areas, multiple objective areas or agricultural cropland where prairie dogs are not welcomed. She said "more than half" the newly inhabited 823 acres are not on agricultural cropland.

"We can say that we're happy with the increase in acreage in habitat conservation areas," Spaulding said.

Beyond those numbers, county officials were reluctant to talk about everything that will be presented in advance of Tuesday's session. However, Moline said, "Our ag group may make a recommendation for a slight change to some of the ways that we manage prairie dogs on our agricultural properties."

Blake Cooper, agricultural resources manager for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, elaborated.

"It's becoming an increasing problem on what are considered some of our no- prairie-dog agricultural land, and we're kind of falling behind in our ability to manage it. We're being inundated," he said.

"We're working out ways to be more efficient. We want to be more humane about it, and do a better job of managing according to the policy. We're probably going to make some suggestions on changes and try to get some stakeholder buy-in, on that."

Prairie dogs and ferrets

Deanna Meyer, executive director of Prairie Protection Colorado, said the prairie dog advocacy group was to hold a conference call on Sunday to prepare for the meeting, which she expects 10 to 20 members of her organization will attend.

"We definitely have an agenda of what we want to see happen there," she said.

"We want to see some changes happening on public lands in regard to the prairie dogs, and we want to see them really start preparing for black ferret reintroduction. They haven't done anything to really meet that goal."

Meyer said her organization hopes to see Boulder County collaboration with Broomfield County and the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, since a significant block of acreage, she said, is necessary for an ecosystem in which those species can thrive together.

The connection between the prairie dogs and the black-footed ferret was raised also by prairie dog advocate Carse Pustmueller, of Boulder. She holds a doctorate in biology with specialities in animal behavior and animal ecology.

"They're going to need to work in conjunction with the city (Boulder) to get larger habitat cooperation between the city and the county," Pustmueller said. "It is going to be critical to get a large enough habitat, to where the prairie dogs survive and are safe and do not die off from the plague, and expand and provide an ecosystem to provide for black-footed ferrets."

Describing prairie dogs as a keystone species, Pustmueller said, "Its presence and its burrows provide habitat and food for a huge diversity of species, any of which depend solely on the prairie dog. You lose prairie dogs, and you lose hawks, you lose burrowing owls and ferrets and weasels and all kinds of species that need to have that habitat. It's a bigger picture than just the prairie dogs."

Spaulding's presentation will include an update on the county's longer-term goal of a reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, a natural predator for prairie dogs. But she did not provide details on that Friday.

Cooper had one piece of advice about Tuesday's session.

"You may want to bring a folding chair, because it may be standing room only," he said.

Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan