Forest Service Halts Poisoning on Its Land - Brief Article

National Wildlife, August-Sept, 1999

In response to a formal request from NWF, the U.S. Forest Service has ordered its staff to immediately stop poisoning black-tailed prairie dogs on all public lands administered by the agency.

The action is a major victory for NWF, which has petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the black-tailed prairie dog as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. That agency has agreed to undertake a full review of the petition but won't make a decision on listing until the end of this year.

The poisoning halt, which affects 42,460 acres of Forest Service land where prairie dog colonies are found, 'is a momentous step in the right direction,' says Cathy Carlson, NWF grasslands project director. 'It means that the Forest Service is getting out of the extermination business and into the business of protecting natural resources, where it belongs.' Government-sanctioned poisoning, along with habitat loss, unregulated shooting and disease, have eliminated black-tailed prairie dogs from 99 percent of the land they formerly occupied. The animals have been routinely poisoned as part of an eradication campaign aimed at preventing them from competing with livestock.

NWF maintains that protecting prairie dogs is vital to restoring the health of America's grasslands wildlife, much of which depends on the animals for food or on their burrows for shelter.