Prairie Dog Ecosystem Project

Help Support Luke’s Prairie Dog Bill!

Luke Zitting is a 12-year-old student from Murray, Utah. He wrote a resolution to be considered by the Utah State Legislature, which promotes prairie dog protection and the celebration of prairie dogs during "Prairie Dog Day" each February 2nd - a date they share with their cousins, the groundhogs. If you are a Utah resident, please help Luke get his resolution passed by asking members of the Utah Legislature’s Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee to support the resolution. Write a letter to the Utah Committee members expressing your concern for prairie dogs. Reference: Resolution H.J.R. 21, "Keystone Species Recognition - to study and consider naming Groundhog Day 'Prairie Dog Day' in recognition, and for protection, of a keystone species."

Sample letter and contact Information for members of the Utah Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee.

Read Luke's Prairie Dog Day Resolution.

Read more about Luke’s efforts to protect prairie dogs.

2009 Report from the Burrow

While Punxsutawney Phil forecasts the weather by looking for his shadow, prairie dogs forecast the health of the environment (with the help of WildEarth Guardians) by releasing the Prairie Dog Report Card, a thorough examination of prairie dog issues.

Read the new report card. (PDF, 9710 KB).

WildEarth Guardians works to protect the five species of prairie dogs.  Unique to North America, prairie dogs play ecologically vital roles in their grassland and sagebrush steppe habitat. 

Two are already protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA): the Mexican and Utah prairie dogs.  The other three – the black-tailed, Gunnison’s, and white-tailed prairie dogs – deserve ESA protection but have been denied it by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. WildEarth Guardians has dogged the Service over prairie dog protection for many years, and we won’t give up until all of these imperiled and keystone species are protected under the ESA. 

The perception of prairie dog abundance mirrors the historical experience of the passenger pigeon.  While some thought the passenger pigeon was too abundant to ever go extinct, it disappeared from this world in 1914.  Also historically abundant, prairie dog populations are now a shadow of their former selves.  WildEarth Guardians is leading the effort to ensure that prairie dog extinction is prevented by the one law that can bring the prairie dog back: the ESA.  While the ESA was not around at the twilight of the passenger pigeon, this wise and effective law stands between prairie dogs and the oblivion of extinction.

Prairie dogs are important for their own sakes, but also for the keystone role that they play in native ecosystems.  Over 140 wildlife species benefit from prairie dogs and their towns.  Prairie dog burrows provide habitat to an array of amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and even a bird: the burrowing owl.  Vegetation on prairie dog towns attracts large herbivores.  Prairie dogs provide prey to raptors and mammals.

The rich ecosystem that prairie dogs create and sustain underscores the urgency of full legal protections for prairie dogs.  In addition to WildEarth Guardians’ work to obtain protections for prairie dogs, we also strive for legal protections for particularly imperiled members of the prairie dog ecosystem, such as the mountain plover, swift and kit foxes, black-footed ferrets, and others.

Sadly, although the black-footed ferret is listed as endangered under the ESA, its recovery program has failed to recognize the fundamental reason why ferrets are one of the rarest animals in North America: remaining prairie dog populations are generally too small to support viable ferret populations.  WildEarth Guardians works to protect black-footed ferrets by pushing for reforms in its recovery program and seeking to safeguard its lifeline, the prairie dog.

Black-tailed Prairie Dog

Black-tailed prairie dogs once occupied approximately 100 million acres within their historic range. In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated only 1,894,000 acres still existed. That equates to a 98 percent loss of occupied habitat. Black-tailed prairie dogs have disappeared from where they lived in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.

Gunnison’s Prairie Dog

Gunnison’s prairie dogs have lost approximately 98 percent of occupied habitat, dwindling from 24 million acres historically to less than 500,000 acres as of 2008.

 

Mexican Prairie Dog

The historic range of the Mexican prairie dog spread across 321,000-371,000 acres. In the early 2000s, researchers found only 54 active colonies within 80,000 acres. In total 75-80 percent of the Mexican prairie dog’s range has been lost over the last century. Over 50 percent of the remaining active colonies measured less than 250 acres, and less than 10 percent (5 colonies) measured more than 2,500 acres.

Utah Prairie Dog

The Utah prairie dog range has dwindled from tens of thousands to a mere 7,000 acres. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data, Utah prairie dog occupied acreage may have declined by close to 90 percent. Because so few Utah prairie dogs remain and their current range is so small, a real population estimate is possible. Only about 10,000 adult individual Utah prairie dogs exist in the state today. WildEarth Guardians has a sustained campaign to upgrade legal protections for the Utah prairie dog.  Despite being listed under the ESA, this prairie dog is still legally shot and its habitat is destroyed for development, ranching, and oil and gas drilling.  In some ways, the Utah prairie dog’s fate provides a glimpse of the future for the unlisted prairie dogs: despite its clear imperilment, it continues to be treated as vermin and regarded as over-abundant, including by the very government agencies that are supposed to protect it. 

White-tailed Prairie Dog

White-tailed prairie dogs occupy less than 805,000 acres. This is down from an historic estimate of 10-44 million acres. The best scientific information indicates that white-tailed prairie dog occupied acreage has declined by 92 percent to 98 percent since the late 1800s.