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Black-footed Ferrets Subject of Court Proceedings, Management Activities and Spotlight Counts
Folks are scheduled to be in court in September and October on behalf of Black-footed Ferrets and all the other wildlife associated with the prairie dogs colonies on the 10,000-acre Haverfield/Barnhardt/Blank properties in Logan County. First, on Friday, September 17 a hearing will be held on the "Motion for Summary Judgment" filed by Randy Rathbun on behalf of Plaintiffs Larry and Bette Haverfield. If granted by the judge, the motion for summary judgment would keep in place the restrains previously established by the court limiting Logan County Commissioners from imposing poisoning campaigns on the property.
The Logan County Commissioners filed a motion to have that restraining order lifted so they could eradicate the prairie dogs-and eliminate the Black-footed Ferret reintroduction project. Another objective appears to be to simply punish the Haverfields with ongoing legal expenses for having the audacity to stand up for conservation of these species on their land and resist a county commissioner's obsession with his power and plan to force eradication of prairie dogs.
The hearing on the motion for summary judgment begins at 11 a.m., September 17 in Wichita. It will be at the Sedgwick County Courthouse at 525 N. Main. A specific courtroom has not yet been scheduled. For those of us who plan to attend, we should plan to arrive early and stay for an hour or two.
If the motion for summary judgment is granted there should be little or no need for a full-blown trial, currently on the calendar for October 27-29 at the county courthouse in Oakley. The motion details the fact that reintroduction of Black-footed Ferrets on this ranch complex is highly successful and an important component of the efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the species from extinction. Results of the March 2010 ferret survey found that 78 % of the ferrets documented were on this private ranch complex, the other 22 % were on the Conservancy's Smoky Valley Ranch. Approximately 75 % of the available habitat is on the Haverfield/Barnhardt/Blank complex. To cite from the motion, "The Court's (earlier) restraining order should be allowed to stand."
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The Audubon of Kansas financed and contracted fences designed to diminish dispersal of prairie dogs from the property to surrounding lands were finished in November 2009, and the electric fence chargers were installed and turned on in late April/early May 2010. Together with the vegetative barriers established by Larry Haverfield inside the boundary of that property, and the prairie dog control implemented by APHIS on the complex, these measures have had a profound effect in diminishing expansion of colonies and migration of prairie dogs onto neighboring properties. In addition, for several years now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other conservation partners have paid for all prairie dog control needed on surrounding lands, extending more than three miles out starting in 2009. Ron Klataske, AOK's Executive Director, filed an affidavit this past week in support of the Haverfield position on these issues.
Earlier this summer Senior Judge Jack Liveley denied a request by the Kansas Farm Bureau to intervene in a case. KFB attorney Mike Irvin had asked Lively at a May 18 hearing in Wichita to allow the group to intervene in the case. Irvin said the Kansas Farm Bureau's intent is to ensure the state law dealing with extermination of prairie dogs is followed. KFB also opposes recovery efforts for Black-footed Ferrets in Kansas.
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The fall 2010 nighttime spotlight survey will be held on the two separate reintroduction sites on the nights of September 20-23 and September 27-30. Several Audubon of Kansas volunteers will be participating. The surveys are directed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. |
Status of Lesser Prairie-chickens
Debated in Kansas, and
Conservation Efforts Designed
to Provide Habitat Continue
Photo Courtesy of Judd Patterson |
The Threatened and Endangered Species Task Committee, established by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, recently voted to deny, at this time, classification of the Lesser Prairie-chicken as a threatened species in the state of Kansas. The Kansas Ornithological Society filed the petition, and six local Audubon Society chapters signed on as part of that petition, to request that the Lesser Prairie-chicken be considered for designation as a state threatened species.
Audubon of Kansas was not a part of the petition. We considered the request that we join and had a diversity of views on our Board of Trustees. One of our Trustees, who is one of the country's foremost experts on Prairie-chickens, indicated that he did not think that it would be designated in Kansas at this time, and questioned whether designation would have the desired conservation benefits everyone involved are striving to achieve. It was also determined that the filing by KOS was sufficient to facilitate the formal review process.
Meanwhile, Audubon of Kansas has been working on many fronts to
promote and improve programs that have the potential of conserving
and/or enhancing Lesser Prairie-chicken habitat. Most importantly,
we spearheaded an effort in the USDA State Technical Committee to
establish "Wildlife" as a resource of "Primary Concern." Following that the EQIP Subcommittee (of which we are a part) designated that 3% of the current year's fiscal $20 million funding for USDA's
Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) would be available for practices that will benefit Prairie-chickens. Unfortunately this is a new program option and only a few landowners applied and only a small fraction of the available funding was allocated to benefit Prairie-chicken habitat. We all need to work together to spread the word and make more range landowners aware of this option.
We have also been working at virtually every State Technical Committee meeting and subcommittee meeting for years to discourage cost-sharing and limit the practice of aerial and broadcast spraying of herbicides on native rangelands to control "brush." A tremendous amount of tax dollars are used for cost-share incentives to spray herbicides for "brush management," and while the removal of trees and overbearing expanses of brush on upland rangeland sites may be beneficial to grassland birds, eliminating the hundreds of other native forbs and shrubs in the surrounding grassland is highly detrimental in many ways. Native forbs, and some component of shrubs, are needed to provide suitable habitat to Prairie-chickens, Bobwhite Quail and a great diversity of other birds and wildlife. Furthermore, none of this "brush control" does much good for any wildlife if the range manager's grazing and burning strategies do not leave sufficient residual vegetation for nesting, brood, foraging or year round escape cover.
The plan prepared by Dr. Robert Robel on the habitat needs of
prairie grouse at Audubon of Kansas' 5,000-acre Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary in Nebraska serves as one management model where grassland birds are a priority. To view the full report online, click here.
Back to grassland birds in Kansas, we have also help and succeeded in removing bromegrass and other invasive and introduced non-native grasses from eligibility in many of the EQIP grass planting practices in EQIP. Native grasses with inclusion of forbs are now a standard for most practices.
We have also been active and supportive in designation of the occupied range of Lesser Prairie-chickens in Kansas as a priority area for the last several general CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) signups, including the one recently held in August. Again, our successful promotion and that of others to incorporate and increase the percentage of forbs in CRP native grass plantings has substantial wildlife benefits. A number of us have been working together to prepare another SAFE CRP proposal for Lesser Prairie-chickens to try to include an additional 30,000 acres of expiring CRP, which may be otherwise lost, in the program for another ten years. Those lands will have to be within two miles of a block of 2,000 acres of suitable native habitat. The Playa Lakes Joint Venture initiated this proposal.
There are a number of statements in the T&E Task Committee's report that may be somewhat questionable. For example, the statement that "These efforts may be less effective or less extensive if the species was listed as Threatened or Endangered." It is certainly not true that the federal agencies would diminish their attention to the species if it is designated as a state threatened species-the contrary may be true.
See the text of the full document at:
http://ksbirds.org/LPC/KDWP_Final_Decision_1_Sept_2010.pdf
We hope that energy companies (including windpower developers, sponsors of transmission lines, oil and gas companies, etc.) will voluntarily avoid destruction of critically important habitat for the species, and sufficient habitat will be maintained and properly managed by private landowners (most of the habitat they rely on is private land) so that the species does not become, in reality, biologically threatened or endangered. It appears that it already is threatened in the other four states where fewer and fewer Lesser Prairie-chickens reside. Kansas is the only state with substantial populations in the southwestern third of the state. We will continue to work in every venue to advance conservation of Prairie-chickens.
We thank everyone involved, including chapter leaders, KOS leaders, wildlife agency staff and others for all they/you have done to underscore the importance of taking actions to protect Lesser Prairie-chickens. |
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Kansas Roadside Wildflowers of the Week
Because of other demands, we've gotten a bit behind on posting "Kansas Roadside Wildflowers of the Week" but we hope to get caught up within a few days. Please check out this feature on our website http://audubonofkansas.org/ and feel free to submit photos and text for consideration. |
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Audubon - Happenings Around Kansas
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Sat./Sun., Sept. 25-26 - Hitchcock Nature Center and DeSoto NWR Fieldtrip - 9 AM
Tuesday, Oct. 5 - Program Meeting "Conservation Issues on the Louisiana Coast" - 7 PM
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Saturday, Sept. 25 - The Baker Wetlands Restoration Project Fieldtrip - 8 AM
Monday, Sept. 27 - Program Meeting "Afield in China" by Dr. Roger Boyd - 7:30 PM
Monday, Oct. 25 - Program Meeting "Award-winning Wildlife Photography" by Dr. Tim Stout - 7:30 PM
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Wednesday, September 15 - Ghost Bird Documentary @ KSU Student Union - 7 PM
Saturday, October 9 - Saturday Birding - 8 AM
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Smoky Hills Audubon Society --
Thursday, Sept. 16 - Program Meeting "Photos from an Exciting Summer Search for KS Butterflies" by Mark Newbrand - 7 PM, dinner at Gutierrez @ 5:30 PM
Sunday, Sept. 19 - Nature Walk at Harold Lear-SHAS Sanctuary - 3 PM
Thursday, Oct. 21 - Program Meeting "Restoration of Salina's Smoky Hill River" by Martha Tasker - 7 PM
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Tuesday, October 5 - Program Meeting "TBA" - 7 PM
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Sunday, Sept. 12 - "A Swift Night Out" Count Chimney Swifts Fieldtrip - 7 PM
Thursday, Sept 30 - Program Meeting "Antarctica and the Chilean Fjords" by Rod & Ellen Sallee - 7 PM
Saturday, Oct. 2 - Four Rivers Conservation Area Fieldtrip - 7 AM
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Tuesday, Sept. 14 - Program meeting "Cooper Hawks" by Priscilla Wilson - 7 PM
Saturday, Sept. 18 - Quivira NWR and Cheyenne Bottoms Field Trip - 6 AM
Tuesday, Sept. 21 - Birds and Beer @ Blind Tiger - 6 PM
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Wichita Audubon Society --
Tuesday, Sept. 21 - Program meeting "Waterbirds: In and Around Wichita" by Paul Griffin - 7:30 PM
Saturday, Sept. 25 - Fall Nature Day at Chaplin Nature Center - 10 AM - 3 PM
Saturday, Sept. 26 - Wichita Area Local Trip - 8 AM
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Please Help With this and Other Important AOK Conservation Initiatives
We need your help. Please donate now to keep Audubon of Kansas on the front lines undeterred by controversy or the absence of other conservation organizations in the trenches, working for wildlife in every forum possible, joining landowners and others who strive to protect prairie landscapes and ecological values, pushing agencies to change operational paradigms and go beyond their comfort zones. We greatly appreciate any support you can provide.
To donate online, simply click here.
Or send a check or money order to:
Audubon of Kansas
210 Southwind Place
Manhattan, KS 66503
If you are considering a gift or bequest to Audubon of Kansas and would appreciate receiving additional information regarding our purpose and mission, please e-mail us or call (785) 537-4385.
Audubon of Kansas is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible. |
We hope you enjoyed this issue of AOK E-News. If you have any suggestions, comments, or ideas please send them to aok@audubonofkansas.org. We also hope you consider making a donation towards the AOK cause. We need your support in this crucial time for Kansas wildlife and ecology! |
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Sincerely,
Ron Klataske, Executive Director
Bob McElroy, Board President
Mike Hudson, Director of Development |
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Donate Now!
Please Help With This and Other Important AOK Initiatives
We need your help. Please donate now to keep Audubon of Kansas on the front lines undeterred by controversy or the absence of other conservation organizations in the trenches, working for wildlife in every forum possible, joining landowners and others who strive to protect prairie landscapes and ecological values, pushing agencies to change operational paradigms and go beyond their comfort zones. We greatly appreciate any support you can provide.
Audubon of Kansas is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are
tax-deductible.
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