FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fish and Wildlife Service Acknowledges Plight of Gunnison's Prairie Dog, Fails to Protect Species

Agency decision splits prairie dog's habitat

The Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged today that the Gunnison's prairie dog warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act but failed to actually provide such protection. The decision reverses an earlier one tainted by interference from former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald. The agency's decision also splits the species' habitat into two parts and proposes protection only for the smaller "montane" portion.

The Fish and Wildlife Service today agreed that the Gunnison's prairie dog, another victim of inappropriate
meddling by former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald, warrants protection under the Endangered Species
Act, though it refused to actually do so, citing other priority actions that preclude listing.
In keeping with other recent decisions including the proposed revision to Preble's meadow jumping mouse protections,
the Service also refused to protect certain portions of the Gunnison's prairie dog's range, leaving the species
without adequate protection overall.

"Though the Fish and Wildlife Service rightfully recognized that the Gunnison's prairie dog deserves protection, it
makes no sense for them to choose not to actually do so, and on top of that to propose protection for only some of
the populations," said Erin Robertson, Senior Staff Biologist at Center for Native Ecosystems.  "If the Gunnison's
prairie dog is threatened with extinction, then it should be protected everywhere it is still found, and it should
be protected now."

The Fish and Wildlife Service finding divides the species' range into a "montane" portion and a "prairie" portion
but declines to label these portions distinct population segments or separate subspecies.  Instead, the Service's
decision appears to rely on a Bush Administration interpretation of the law that divides endangered species habitat
into significant portions to be legally recognized and others to be cut out of protection.  This interpretation has
led to recent proposals for the wolf and the Preble's meadow jumping mouse that leave large populations of these
threatened species unprotected.

In addition, the Fish and Wildlife Service considered only the currently occupied portion of the Gunnison's prairie
dog's original range, though the agency also recognized that the species has lost more than 95% of its original
range.

The Fish and Wildlife Service finding proposes that populations in the montane portion of the species' range, which
roughly covers central and south-central Colorado and north-central New Mexico, would be a "candidate" for
protection under the Endangered Species Act, but populations in the Four Corners region, which consitutes 60% of the
potential habitat for the species, would be left without any protective status.

"Gunnison's prairie dog has declined by as much as 99% in less than a century," said Center for Native Ecosystems
Conservation Director Josh Pollock.  "The Fish and Wildlife Service corrected part of the decision tainted by Julie
MacDonald but did not go the distance to protect this species."

In 2003, Center for Native Ecosystems joined Forest Guardians (now Wild Earth Guardians), several scientists, and
other conservation organizations in petitioning for Gunnison's prairie dog protection under the Endangered Species
Act.  After the species was denied protection in 2006, documents obtained by Wild Earth Guardians through the
Freedom of Information Act showed that former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald forced Fish and Wildlife
Service scientists to reverse their findings and keep the Gunnison's prairie dog off the Endangered Species list. 

Today's Fish and Wildlife Service announcement in the Federal Register comes as a response to a successful lawsuit
by Wild Earth Guardians, Center for Native Ecosystems, and others to correct the original petition finding tainted
by MacDonald.

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