FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Endangered Species Act Protection Sought for White-tailed Prairie Dog

Politics and Rampant Oil and Gas Development Remain Greatest Threats

A coalition of conservation groups today filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to overturn a politically motivated decision denying the white-tailed prairie dog protection as an endangered species. This legal action came on the same day that the House Natural Resources Committee released a letter from the Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledging that the denial of protection to the white-tailed prairie dog and several other species was the result of political interference.

White-tailed prairie dog. Photo courtesy of Ted Zukoski.

A coalition of conservation groups today asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to overturn a politically motivated decision denying the white-tailed prairie dog protection as an endangered species.

This legal action came on the same day that the House Natural Resources Committee released a letter from the Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledging that the denial of protection to the white-tailed prairie dog and several other species was the result of political interference.

The white-tailed prairie dog is an indicator of healthy wildlife populations in the sagebrush sea of the west.  A number of animals depend on the prairie dog for their survival, including endangered black-footed ferrets, burrowing owls, mountain plovers, and ferruginous hawks.  Once ranging throughout western Colorado, eastern Utah, Wyoming, and south-central Montana, the prairie dog has declined by over 92% throughout its range.  Oil and gas drilling, shooting, poisoning, and disease have taken their toll.

“The decline of the white-tailed prairie dog is a sad indication that wildlife across the West is in trouble,” said Erin Robertson, Senior Staff Biologist with Center for Native Ecosystems.  “Thriving wildlife populations are essential to the West; we cannot afford to let the white-tailed prairie dog slide closer to the brink.”

Aside from plague, a nonnative disease that was accidentally introduced to North America around 1900, perhaps the greatest threat the white-tailed prairie dog has faced is the political manipulation of science by the Bush administration.  Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service admitted that Julie MacDonald, a former Interior Department appointee, overruled biologists to deny protecting the white-tailed prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act.  In a November 23 letter to house Natural Resources Committee chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV), the Fish and Wildlife Service reiterated that they believed the denial of protections “should be reconsidered” and indicated they believe a full status review is necessary, effectively overriding MacDonald’s interference.  However, the letter stated that they would only undertake the review when funding becomes available, and the Service has a large backlog of unfunded actions to take first.

Service emails in January 2006 also revealed that Julie MacDonald denied a positive petition finding for the Gunnison's prairie dog (found in the southwestern U.S.), and directly linked that reversal to the manipulated finding for the white-tailed prairie dog. In response to litigation by Forest Guardians, Center for Native Ecosystems, and other groups, the Service agreed to issue a new petition finding for the Gunnison's prairie dog by February 1, 2008. In today's lawsuit, the groups hope to obtain a similar result for the white-tailed prairie dog.

"In fact the science demonstrates overwhelmingly that along with the white-tailed and Gunnison's prairie dogs, black-tailed prairie dog also deserves Endangered Species listing and the Utah prairie dog must be upgraded from Threatened to Endangered," stated Lauren McCain, Deserts and Grasslands Program Director of Forest Guardians. "The Fish and Wildlife Service must move beyond the Julie MacDonald era and once again make listing decisions based on sound science not politics."

In 2002, a coalition of conservation groups and renowned author Terry Tempest Williams petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the white-tailed prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act.  In a June 21, 2007 memo, the Service stated that biologists initially found the petition to protect the white-tailed prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act presented “substantial” information indicating protection was needed.  However, the Service stated that Julie MacDonald later directed biologists to change the finding to “not substantial.”

Last Friday’s Fish and Wildlife Service letter gave no date by which the status review for the white-tailed prairie dog would be completed.  Instead, it stated that the agency would work on the review “in fiscal year 2009, if funding is available.”

“The white-tailed prairie dog can’t survive on the Service’s empty promises, it needs protection,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director with Center for Native Ecosystems.  “The white-tailed prairie dog and our western wildlife need to be treated fairly.”

In the meantime, the white-tailed prairie dog faces growing threats from oil and gas drilling.  Recent reports indicate that in the next 15-20 years, over 126,000 new oil and gas wells will be drilled in the Rocky Mountains, much of them in the range of the white-tailed prairie dog.

Today’s lawsuit seeks to ensure the white-tailed prairie dog is safeguarded under the Endangered Species Act, a safety net for wildlife on the brink.  The groups seek a formal commitment to which the Service can be held legally accountable to complete the status review by a certain date.

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