Conata shooting ban may be lifted

By Steve Miller and Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writers | Saturday, September 04, 2004

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The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Commission has taken the first step toward allowing hunters to shoot prairie dogs on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in Conata Basin south of Wall.

The commission on Thursday approved an emergency rule lifting the state's year-round restrictions on shooting prairie dogs on public land in Conata Basin.

However, federal shooting restrictions in Conata Basin remain, for now. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages Buffalo Gap National Grassland, plans to allow hunting within a one-mile buffer zone on the federal grassland where it lies next to private land.

Both actions are part of a state-federal agreement reached in August that would allow poisoning and shooting of prairie dogs in buffer zones on federal land. The agreement is aimed at providing relief to area ranchers who say their rangelands are being damaged by prairie dogs coming from the federal grassland.

A wildlife group on Friday blasted the state for lifting the shooting ban and threatened a lawsuit.

Don Bright, U.S. Forest Service supervisor for the area including Buffalo Gap National Grassland, said Thursday that his agency is moving quickly but carefully to ease shooting restrictions. He said last month that he hoped restrictions could be lifted by Oct. 1.

"The Conata Basin is the site of the nation's most successful endangered black-footed ferret reintroduction program," Bright said in a joint Forest Service/GF&P news release. More than 260 ferrets inhabit the basin, he said. Also, the basin is home to more than 250 breeding pairs of burrowing owls, a species closely monitored by the Forest Service.

Bright said the Forest Service is "sensitive to the possibility" that animals such as black-footed ferrets and burrowing owls could be accidentally killed in the shooting. The agency said it would trap ferrets in the buffer zones and relocate them.

The Forest Service will post signs to indicate where shooting will be allowed, Bright said. The agency is also considering limiting shooting to mid-morning or later to avoid accidental shooting of young ferrets.

The state's ban on shooting prairie dogs from March 1 through June 14 remains in place for Conata Basin and other public lands in South Dakota. There is no restriction on shooting prairie dogs on private land.

George Vandel, an assistant director with the GF&P's Wildlife Division, said quite a few prairie dogs should be available for recreational shooters, particularly along the margins of fields.

"There's an abundance of prairie dogs out there," Vandel said in an interview. "But you'll find that some areas are so denuded of vegetation that the prairie dogs themselves have started moving out."

Art Smith, GF&P wildlife damage management program administrator, said shooting might remove 20 percent to 25 percent of the prairie dog population in an area. "Recreational shooters move on as soon as they get the easier dogs, and things get tougher," Smith said. "I wouldn't expect to see any extermination (of local towns). But it gives the ability to lower a local population briefly."

The GF&P Commission imposed restrictions on shooting prairie dogs in 2001 as part of state efforts to keep the black-tailed prairie dog from being listed as a threatened species.

After petitions from the National Wildlife Federation and other groups, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared in early 2000 that the prairie dog deserved listing as a threatened species. The service delayed actual listing because of higher-priority species.

The declaration prompted a moratorium on virtually all poisoning and shooting of prairie dogs on federal land. In addition to drought, the ban on control contributed to a major expansion of prairie dogs in western South Dakota and an accompanying public outcry from ranchers and their allies.

After new surveys found more prairie dogs than earlier estimates, conservation efforts by states in the prairie dog's historic range and no small amount of political pressure, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton last month dropped the prairie dog from the threatened species candidate list.

Her action came one day before the state-federal agreement to allow poisoning and shooting of prairie dogs in federal buffer zones in Conata Basin and Fall River County.

Earlier this summer, the state began poisoning prairie dogs on private land next to the federal grassland in Conata Basin and Fall River County.

The state poisoning project, now in its third week, has treated about 5,000 acres of private land, Vandel said. "We were hoping for a 90 percent kill, and it appears to be higher than that. There's no alternative food source out there, so they're gobbling up the pre-bait and the bait," he said.

Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance says his group opposes lifting the shooting ban as well as other parts of the state-federal agreement that would allow prairie dog poisoning in the buffer zones.

To allow prairie dog shooting in the area designated for black-footed ferrets violates the Forest Service management plan for that area, Proctor said Friday. "These plans have been worked out over years with give and take and compromises on all sides. Now, they want to go back on their word because of political pressure."

Lifting the shooting ban would be "a large step backward in endangered species recovery," Proctor said, referring to the black-footed ferret.

"Keep in mind, this is only a small portion of Buffalo Gap National Grassland that is currently closed year-round to prairie dog shooting," he said. "Now, they want to open even that to shooting. It makes no sense. Black-footed ferrets need prairie dogs for survival."

Proctor said the Predator Conservation Alliance would file a lawsuit if shooting or poisoning prairie dogs begins on federal land in Conata Basin.