The Forest Service must reconsider its plans for managing black-tailed prairie dogs on a sprawling expanse of federal grasslands in Wyoming, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
In a victory for environmental groups, a divided three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a redo of plans for prairie dog control on the 553,000-acre Thunder Basin National Grassland located in the northeastern corner of the Cowboy State. It’s a potentially important decision both for the prairie dog and its nemesis, the federally protected black-footed ferret.
“The black-footed ferret feeds on black-tailed prairie dogs and relies on their burrows as habitat,” Judge Carolyn McHugh wrote. “As such, a healthy black-tailed prairie dog population is critical to the successful reintroduction of the blackfooted ferret in a given area.”
The appellate panel concluded in the 2-1 decision that the Forest Service failed to adequately analyze its plan for the vexatious but ecologically crucial prairie dogs. The state of Wyoming considers the prairie dog to be both an “agricultural pest” and a species of “greatest conservation need.” The Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected proposals to list it under the Endangered Species Act.
