FWP Approves First Prairie Dog Conservation Contract

[Hammsolo]

Is the thought of livestock breaking legs in holes even a real thing? If it was you would think you’d see all sorts of wildlife in prairie dog country gimping around also

Is it like kids these days? There’s actual data showing that there have been negative effects of making playgrounds safer. Kids have soft stuff to bump into or fall on, rather than grinding gravel into their knee caps. Why worry?

 

[Hammsolo]

Me too! But isn’t that selfish?

Huh, could you explain? Are you saying that subdivisions aren’t selfish?

 

[shrapnel]

Why would you not want prairie dogs? Honestly asking, and not a loaded question. Why don’t they? Again just asking for information. I hunt ground squirrels for a friend on their cattle allotments. It gets me great practice and protects their cows and horses.

I’ve been doing some more reading and what I’m finding is that ground squirrels and prairie dogs are great for the wilder ecosystems. They aerate the soil and fertilize it and more.

Where’s the line with the public trust? Moose, deer, elk, coyote, fox, ferret, squirrel… I honestly don’t know.

I went past the Montana Prairie Dog Park on my way to Billings last week and took a picture of the ground that is now vacated by prairie dogs. I don’t know the reason, probably plague, because people weren’t allowed to shoot them.

This is typical of what destructive results are from prairie dogs once they are gone. The impact from their lifestyle of clearing all grass to the roots where they live, clearly destroys any grass from coming back once the prairie dogs are gone.

This may not concern you if you don’t own the land, but if you do and prairie dogs live there or leave there, they don’t do anything for the preservation of the soil or plant life, unless you are a weed.

The second picture is just down the road a half mile or so and the devastation from the prairie dogs is quite noticeable against the property that didn’t have any…

 

[ismith]

I went past the Montana Prairie Dog Park on my way to Billings last week and took a picture of the ground that is now vacated by prairie dogs. I don’t know the reason, probably plague, because people weren’t allowed to shoot them.

This is typical of what destructive results are from prairie dogs once they are gone. The impact from their lifestyle of clearing all grass to the roots where they live, clearly destroys any grass from coming back once the prairie dogs are gone.

This may not concern you if you don’t own the land, but if you do and prairie dogs live there or leave there, they don’t do anything for the preservation of the soil or plant life, unless you are a weed.

The second picture is just down the road a half mile or so and the devastation from the prairie dogs is quite noticeable against the property that didn’t have any…



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There are some prairie dog patches close to my place, looks like the ground was salted.

 

[Eric Albus]

We've poured a bunch of money into keeping black-footed ferrets from going extinct, without figuring out how to deal with the primary problem: loss of groceries (ie prairie dogs). I agree with Ben2 that it's good, creative conservation to try to incentivize growing some prairie dogs, instead of trying to get it all done via regulations. I'm interested to see how this one works out.

if they could just make the coyotes understand ferrets are endangered