| Cowboy Country Traveler Newsie Thangs
|
|---|
Plan To Bring Back Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Is Concern For Area Ranchers
SONOITA - More than a few area ranchers are concerned the reintroduction
of a rodent that federal, state, and local governments once worked so hard
to eradicate might leave them in the hole.
"The ramifications of this happen to impact our lives every single day,"
said Susan Krentz.
She traveled from her ranch near Portal last Thursday to attend a meeting
in Sonoita on the proposed reintroduction of the black-tailed prairie dog.
Krentz was among a half-dozen other ranchers who were invited by the Arizona
Game and Fish to give their thoughts about a program that has identified
Las Cienegas National Conservation Area as the preferred site for the
first re-establishment attempt of this native species in Southern Arizona.
Austin Moss, who has ranched in the Sonoita-Elgin area for almost 84 years,
said he was worried prairie dog towns could potentially degrade the
range that cattle need.
"I'd like to invite people to try a few prairie dogs and see if they enjoy
them more than a good piece of beef," he said.
With a turnout of about 30 people, Jared Underwood, small mammal conservation
coordinator with Game and Fish, did his best to assure people that the
proposed reintroduction would begin as an experiment and be carefully
monitored.
Underwood said the initial "dog town" sites would be constructed on
approximately 10-acre plots that would be two miles from any private land.
He said the prairie dogs would also be closely watched for signs of
disease such as plague.
"We don't foresee any reduction in grazing on the Las Cienegas," said
Underwood, who added the project would be reviewed annually. "This re-
establishment, and prairie dogs in general, we feel are compatible with
ranching."
Some of the potential benefits of reintroducing prairie dogs to their
historical range include boosting the diversity of animal and plant life.
Underwood said prairie dogs mix soils and circulate nutrients.
Underwood said the big reason the Arizona Game and Fish wants to reintroduce
the black-tailed prairie dog is to restore the landscape.
"Perhaps the general complexity of the grasslands will return from what has
been lost," he said.
"What's your historical data that they actually lived here?" asked Sonoita
resident John Kugler.
Underwood said one of his colleagues researched the historical archives in
Washington, D.C., and was able to look at the records of the first explorers,
surveyors and trappers who came through southeastern Arizona.
"That's actually where most of this information comes from. We also have the
records of where they were poisoned," Underwood said referring to the
eradication of the species in Arizona between 1930 and 1960.
Underwood said that if the Arizona Game and Fish director approves the
project, the black-tailed prairie dogs used in the program would come from
the Gray Ranch in southern New Mexico.