Boulder City Council to consider lethal prairie dog control - The Daily Camera

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Boulder’s City Council on Tuesday will consider a motion to expand lethal control of prairie dogs on agricultural lands managed by Open Space and Mountain Parks.

Prairie dogs are seen at Nu West South property in Boulder County on Aug. 7, 2020. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)

The recommendation from city staff and the Open Space Board of Trustees raises one of Boulder’s most contentious issues: how to manage prairie dogs, a keystone species vital for environmental health and balance — but also known for invading agricultural land to the point that it’s unusable for farmers and ranchers and degrades soil health.

Current reliance on nonlethal relocation has “resulted in an inability to keep up with the rates of establishment and spread of prairie dogs in OSMP irrigated fields,” city staff wrote in the motion City Council members will consider Tuesday.

Open Space staff and other land managers have not succeeded at managing land simultaneously for irrigated agriculture and prairie dogs “as these goals are incompatible and result in conflict and impacts to vegetations and soils,” city staff wrote.

The motion recommends lethal control, relocation, constructing barrier fences, land restoration and allowing damage to prairie dog burrows on agricultural lands managed by the city north of Jay Road and west of the Diagonal.

If approved, control efforts would start in 2021, with the goal of annually removing 30 to 40 acres of prairie dogs by relocation, 100 to 200 acres of removals by “in-burrow humane lethal control,” installing fences and allowing agricultural activities to resume that could damage burrows.

That plan would relocate 900 to 1,200 prairie dogs and kill 3,000 to 6,000 prairie dogs every year. Prairie dogs would continue to inhabit approximately 3,000 acres of land managed by city staff that would not be impacted by the recommendations.

The recommendations would cost between $296,000 to $545,000 per year, and it is unknown how long it will take to complete because of fluctuation in prairie dog populations from plague, precipitation and other factors, according to the city’s documents.

Elizabeth Black looks at healthy soil at the Nu West North property in Boulder County on Aug. 7, 2020. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)

Deb Jones, president of the Prairie Dog Action Group and member of the city’s Prairie Dog Working Group, said she is concerned that the measures will further endanger a species that so many others depend on.

“We need to think outside the box, instead of always going back to the same old antique methods of let’s just kill everything to solve the problem,” Jones said. “It really doesn’t solve the problem, it’s a Band-Aid fix. We need to learn how to do things that are sustainable for the environment.”

Jones said she’s frustrated that two years of meetings and work by the Prairie Dog Working Group were pushed aside when agricultural producers wanted more immediate action.

“We need farming and agriculture, but not at the cost for the rest of our environment,” Jones said. “I know they don’t see these animals as assets, but they are.”

Prairie dog advocates point to the “over 160 native birds and animals depend for food and shelter upon the rich ecosystem prairie dogs create, like ocean fish depend on coral reefs,” according to the Great Plains Restoration Council, and that the animals actual help the soil.

But Cody Oreck and Elizabeth Black, members of Healthy Ecosystems and Agricultural Lands, said that unchecked prairie dog populations cause soil erosion and prevent agricultural producers from using the land for its assigned purpose.

Standing in a field in North Boulder that’s been occupied by prairie dogs for 20 years, Black and Oreck point to the abundance of nonnative species like bindweed and dock and absence of native plants.

“Prairie dog advocates talk about how if we leave them here, the land will revert to natural grassland. That’s not what happens,” Black said.

Restoring agricultural land works, Black and Oreck said, pointing to a field known as Nu West North where prairie dogs were removed through relocation and some lethal control. Barrier fences were installed, and the soil was tilled, reseeded with native species and irrigated.

Only one year after remediation, the land is already lush with grass and plants, and the soil is holding together, a stark difference to the barren field and crumbling soil on the land occupied by prairie dogs for 20 years.

“This is a success story of what you can do with removing prairie dogs and remediating the landscape,” Black said.

City Council members will hold a three-hour public hearing on prairie dog remediation starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, which will be live-streamed at bouldercolorado.gov. People who want to speak during the hearing are required to sign up by 5 p.m. Tuesday at bit.ly/31w1isp.

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