|
|
Major Legal Victory for
Black-footed Ferrets,
Prairie Dogs, and Wildlife
Black-footed Ferret | Wildlife biologists and citizen volunteers began the annual nighttime survey of Black-footed Ferrets on a 10,000-acre ranch complex in western Kansas with a sense of celebration on Monday evening, according to Ron Klataske, executive director of Audubon of Kansas. Earlier that day, Senior Judge Jack Lively released a decision that promises to secure a future for continued conservation efforts to establish and maintain a population of endangered Black-footed Ferrets on ranch property owned by Larry and Bette Haverfield, Gordon and Martha Barnhardt, and Maxine Blank.
The Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of the plaintiffs (landowners) by Randall K. Rathbun of Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer LC in litigation (Case No. 2009 CV 5) involving the continued efforts of the Logan County Commission to eradicated prairie dogs on the property was granted in Logan County District Court on September 17, and announced on Monday September 20, 2010.
On March 3, 2008 the Honorable Charles E. Andrews of the Third Judicial District entered a restraining order in this case limiting the extermination activities by Logan County to the 90-foot vegetative barrier surrounding the Haverfield/Barnhardt/Blank Complex. The issue before District Court of Logan County was whether the temporary injunction entered by Judge Andrew should be allowed to stand as a permanent injunction or whether the temporary injunction should be overruled to allow Logan County Commissioners to begin its eradication program of the prairie dogs in the Complex.
An uncontroverted fact was that extermination of all prairie dogs would result in the death of the Black-footed Ferrets (one of the most endangered mammals in North America) on the property. Senior Judge Jack L. Lively determined that the injunction shall become permanent, and the defendant's (Logan County) request to allow it to exterminate prairie dogs on the Complex, pursuant to Kansas Statutes 80-1201 et seq., is denied.
Judge Lively noted that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and its conservation partners are providing surrounding landowners with free control of prairie dogs on their lands. According to Klataske, this control, and other measures including special fences designed by Audubon of Kansas, and management practices implemented by the landowners are all designed to make the ferret reintroduction project a win-win opportunity for landowners on both sides of the boundary fence. Prairie dog control near the property boundary, the special "prairie dog fences" and vegetative barriers have dramatically reduced immigration from the property to adjacent areas.
Prairie Dog Fence | The attorney representing Logan County Commissioners also asked the Court to find fault in the decision of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for the agency's initiative to reintroduce Black-footed Ferrets in Kansas as part of the recovery implementation effort for this endangered species. The Court's ruling stated that, "This Court does not have jurisdiction to consider defendant's collateral attack upon the decision to introduce Black-footed Ferrets onto the property." A federal statute "sets forth citizen suit provisions under the Endangered Species Act so that actions of the Secretary (of the Department of The Interior) can be challenged." Under that Act, "jurisdiction lies in the District Courts of the United States."
Logan County Commissioners and the Kansas Farm Bureau have promoted policies to eradicate Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and have actively opposed reintroduction of Black-footed Ferrets in western Kansas. On May 18, Judge Lively denied a motion by the Kansas Farm Bureau to intervene in this court case. The Court's decision stated that this case "is not about 80-1202 and KFB's disagreement with the federal government." K.A.S. 80-1202 are state statutes passed more than a hundred years ago, in 1901, that are used by counties to impose eradication orders on landowners.
BFF Release in October 2008 | In 2005 Audubon of Kansas (AOK) began working in partnership with ranch landowners Larry and Bette Haverfield, Gordon and Martha Barnhardt, and Maxine Blank to save and manage the largest complex of Black-tailed Prairie Dog colonies in Kansas. Their 10,000-acre ranch complex was the most promising site for reintroduction of the endangered Black-footed Ferret (BFF), and the first 14 captive-raised BFFs were released there a week before Christmas in 2007. This was almost exactly fifty years since the last known native population in Kansas was documented. BFFs live in abandoned prairie dog burrows and depend on prairie dogs as their natural prey. Many other species, including Burrowing Owls also depend on prairie dogs for habitat and/or as prey.
Conservationists throughout the state and country were pleased with the news, but all of the ferrets observed by five teams of observers during the windy night of September 20 evaded capture. Ferrets are captured with special life-traps to give the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service scientific documentation on the survival, health and breeding success of the reintroduced population. Five of approximately fifteen observed on just half of the property surveyed the second night were captured, processed and released back into the same burrow where captured. They are carefully examined, vaccinated, and given an identity chip if they didn't already have one.
At least 35 Black-footed Ferrets where observed during the March 15-18/ 22-25 survey earlier this year. Twenty-five of those were on this private land complex, and ten were observed on Smoky Valley Ranch owed by The Nature Conservancy. These numbers are proportional to the habitat provided in acreage of scattered prairie dog colonies on the two reintroduction sites, with the Haverfield/Barnhardt/Blank complex providing approximately 75 percent of the occupied acreage. Ferrets have been reproducing in the wild and now second generation wild-born kits are living again in the shortgrass prairies of western Kansas.
Although this is an important victory for reintroduction, conservation and management of Black-footed Ferrets, and maintenance of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs on this property, many challenges remain for the at-risk species associated with prairie dog colonies in Kansas and throughout the Great Plains. Many western Kansas County Commissions routinely impose mandates on landowners to poison off all of the prairie dogs on their land, and the Kansas Legislature has failed to repeal the antiquated statures used to disregard the property rights of landowners who want to maintain these native animals and other associated wildlife. Prairie dog colonies are totally absent from many areas and their numbers are less than one percent of their historical presence.
Swift Foxes on Haverfield Ranch | In addition, poisons commonly used to kill prairie dogs often exterminate other wildlife. Phostoxin is a poisonous gas that kills all living organisms in the burrows that are treated. Rozol is an anti-coagulant that kills prairie dogs, but it often takes up to three weeks and if the animals are killed or scavenged by predators they in turn are poisoned. Litigation against EPA for allowing this poison for this purpose is being challenged at this time by Defenders of Wildlife, Audubon of Kansas and the Natural Resource Defense Council. Logan County purchased 46 tons (92,000 pounds) of Rozol for treatment of the remaining prairie dog colonies in that county in 2008. Ferrets, Badgers and Bald Eagles that have feed on prairie dogs poisoned with Rozol have been killed, and many other species including Swift Foxes, Ferruginous Hawks and Golden Eagles are at risk of being poisoned.
--All photos by Ron Klataske For additional reading:
|
|
Audubon - Happenings Around Kansas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 9 - Saturday Birding - 8 AM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 5 - Program Meeting "TBA" - 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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat., Sept. 25 - Governor's Residence Trails Field Trip - 7:30 AM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wichita Audubon Society --
Saturday, Sept. 25 - Fall Nature Day at Chaplin Nature Center - 10 AM - 3 PM
Saturday, Sept. 26 - Wichita Area Local Trip - 8 AM |
|
|
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! |
|
Sincerely,
Ron Klataske, Executive Director
Bob McElroy, Board President
Mike Hudson, Director of Development |
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
