Utah Prairie Dog Recovery Efforts 1995 Annual Report
McDonald KP. 1996. Utah Prairie Dog Recovery Efforts 1995 Annual Report. Utah Prairie Dog recovery efforts annual report. 96-2. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Cedar City, UT
Recovery efforts for the federally threatened Utah prairie dog in 1995 consisted of conducting annual spring counts, calculating acreage of all colonies mapped since 1976, and administering the transplant and control programs. Based on declining population numbers and distribution, as well as vague and seemingly unachievable recovery goals, it is recommended that the existing recovery plan be revised to take into consideration more current data and current principles of conservation biology. An interim Conservation Strategy has been proposed to direct recovery efforts for the next 5 years while the recovery plan is being revised. By land ownership, counts on public lands declined by 24%, counts on private land increased 17%. Bryce Canyon National Park had approval to move prairie dogs from an area being developed into a viewing site, and from around their sewer lagoons. However, none of these were moved. The colony near the viewing site suffered from a die-off during the summer, negating the need to transplant animals, and the animals around the sewer lagoon were not a problem this year. Richard Bryant from Bryce Canyon National Park reported that a senior thesis project looking at behavior of prairie dogs in areas near heavily traveled roads vs. those away from roads was conducted in the park during summer 1994. This study showed statistical differences in how long prairie dogs remain underground after being disturbed. A final report will be provided by Jane Ashdown when completed.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McDonald, Kenneth
- Date of Issue
- 1996-02
- Publisher
- Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
- Units
- BRCA
- Keywords
- Animals, Colorado Plateau, Inventory & Monitoring, Mammals, Management, Prairie Dog (Cynomys parvidens), Reintroduction (Species), Restoration - Natural, Survey, Threatened-Endangered-Sensitive Animals, Wildlife Management