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Show Are Prairie Dogs Really So Good? On July 27 the Garfield County News published a Bryce Canyon National Park news release under the headline, "BCNP asks: 'Are Prairie Dogs Really So Bad?'" I have also done research on prairie dogs, and for over a decade, I've gathered information and photographs. pho-tographs. I believe there's sufficient suffi-cient information to prove why prairie dogs have declined. The article gave what appeared to be a brief history and cited the environment of prairie dogs. I wonder just what is the environment envi-ronment of the prairie dog? I believe our environment is what's around us at the time, and while" we're reading the articles like the one mentioned, we fail to read the fine print: "Environment subject to change without notice. I would like to share my views. The article also stated, "The Utah Prairie Dog (Cynomys parvi-dens) parvi-dens) is one of five species of prairie dogs that inhabit the western United States, and are found nowhere else in the world except south-central and south-western Utah." The Utah Prairie Dog is found in only about five counties: Wayne, Iron, Garfield, Piute and Sevier, although maps show that they could border Beaver, Washington Washing-ton and Kane Counties. The Utah Prairie Dog is the only species of prairie dog, as far as I know, that is listed in the United States on the Endangered Species List, and is listed as Threatened. The Utah Prairie Dog is of the white-tail species, so called because of the white tip on its tail. Two other species of white-tail prairie dogs inhabit Utah and surrounding states. The White-Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys Leucurus) is found around the Vernal area. The Gunnison Prairie Dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) is found around the four corners area. The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) is found in the U.S. from Texas to the-Dako-. tas, and states bordering to the south. As far as five species of prairie dogs(as the article stated), the only thing I can figure is that it must be referring to two sub-species of the Gunnison Prairie Dog, the Cynomys Cyn-omys gunnisoni gunnisoni and Cynomys gunnisoni zuniensis. The article states: "Settlement of the west, however, decimated these enormous populations." I believe be-lieve the key word here is "however" because "how-ever" prairie dogs declined is going to be a subject of debate for years to come. While shooting and poisoning campaigns have been blamed, and may have caused the prairie dogs to decline, I don't believe these methods of control are what decimated deci-mated the species. Private landowners who shot prairie dogs under a controlled permit system through the Division of Wildlife Resources increased the prairie dogs 85 percent. In the mid 1930's, less poisonous poison-ous bait was required in Johns Valley in Garfield County because plague entered the colonies. I believe there has been sufficient research to prove that before plague entered Utah, prairie dogs usually recovered after poisoning, only to increase in numbers and be poisoned again. Research today has shown poisoning and shooting prairie dogs has slowed the rapid growth of colonies that makes them vulnerable vulner-able to plague. "How ever", when Bubonic plague entered the United States at San Francisco about 1900, I believe this is when and where the settlement of the West changed the environment, and from that time forth, decimated the prairie dogs. Even with massive poisoning and shooting campaigns to attempt to control plague by trying to exterminate the ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) in California, Califor-nia, plague still moved eastward and entered Utah, with the first reported case of human plague occurring in 1936. From what I have researched and studied about prairie dogs, I believe it is plague that has decimated the species. Prairie dogs are highly susceptible suscep-tible to plague, and mortality from the disease among prairie dogs is extremely high, often near 100 percent. In some cases it has completely com-pletely eliminated colonies. With this high rate of mortality, how can a species like the prairie dog recover recov-er when plague had a tendency to strike about every five years? The four species of prairie dogs, are considered a major amplifying host of plague in the western United States. Plague is basically a rodent-flea-rodent disease, and man usually enters into it by accident. On a chart I received in a "Plague Pack" from the Center for Disease Control, Plague Division, Fort Collins, Colo., it showed one case of human plague in Garfield County between 1970-89. I was told by one individual that it occurred in Escalante and proved fatal, but as yet I have been unable to verify the report. According to the Bryce Canyon National Park article, '"Prairie dogs are nowhere near as detrimental to livestock and agriculture as people think,' says John Hoogland University Uni-versity of Maryland, who has spent 11 years at Bryce Canyon researching re-searching prairie dogs." The article also says that they only "compete to a limited degree for the same foods" as livestock. In 1991, Hal Mitchell of Paro-wan Paro-wan asked me to come and help document by photographs that damage taking place at his farm. When he told me he was losing about a 100 bales of hay to the prairie dogs, I thought he was exaggerating. When I saw for myself, I decided he'd been very conservative. Prairie dogs from an adjacent field had encroached on his alfalfa field about 160 feet. Ivan Matheson, former Utah State Senator, estimated in 1984 that the large populations of prairie dogs were costing local ranchers $1.5 million annually in crop ' losses and damage to equipment. I have had an axle broken on a baler due to a prairie dog burrow, and I'm sure there are many more who could tell you of damages they have had also. I've had prairie dogs eat the com seed out of the ground, forcing me to replant, which put me behind in trying to get the corn to maturity. The article states, "Prairie dogs naturally shy away from fields which are grown thick with tall crops, and frequently disturbed by plowing, irrigating and harvesting activities." Contact Alma Adams, Alma Evans (both Parowan) or David Hulet (Summit). These three gentlemen gen-tlemen will be glad to show fields that will prove this statement false. Mr. Hoogland labeled the plants as A, B, C, D and E, with livestock and prairie dogs competing for plant C. Why didn't he name the plants so we could determine for ourselves what those animals eat? The article also states, Cattle gain more weight on than off prairie dog colonies." I have photographs of prairie dog colonies that show nothing but bare ground where prairie dogs have overgrazed the area. It's hard for me to believe how livestock can eat vegetation that's not there and gain weight. Mr. Hoogland says it's "pure fiction that livestock break legs from prairie dog burrows." If Mr. Hoogland believes this, I'm sure there are a lot of ranchers who would like to have him bring his horse and help move cattle that graze on prairie dog habitat. I've nearly broken my leg stepping in their holes when irrigating a field, and it isn't pleasant having your watering Doot tilled with water as you sink almost out of sight. The article states: "Some 170 species of vertebrates rely at some level on prairie dogs for survival." I say, name them. As far as being a "keystone" species, the only thing I've seen prairie dogs hold up is progress. The Bryce Canyon National Park article says that Mr. Hoogland works for or with the University of Maryland. Like most of the people in those professions, they must either "publish or perish." From what I read in the article, I feel it's the same as what others have written on the same subject and there isn't anything in the article I haven't read before. Maybe the public would like some questions answered like: What is the average number of ectoparasites (fleas) per prairie dog? Where do these fleas go when the host has been destroyed by plague? How many of these fleas test plague positive, and how long will these fleas remain positive for plague after an outbreak? How long can fleas survive without blood meal? How about a report on how plague got the name "Black Death?" or maybe a report about countries prior to WWII experimenting with bombs filled with plague-infected fleas to be used as "biological warfare'? Now this might make some interesting reading. My advice to people like Mr. Hoogland is, get a life seek gainful employment. If you want to leave your footprint in the sands of time, wear some work shoes. Maybe f the truth were known, we might find the real reason for the decline of the prairie dogs is that they have been studied to death. Scott Holyoak Parowan |
