By Linda P
When I moved here in 1991, our grasslands were bountiful and ecologically diverse. Our City and County Open Space grasslands would ebb and flow in the wind—reminding me of the ocean waves of my childhood growing up on Long Island. On Jan. 18, 2000, the City of Boulder adopted an ordinance prohibiting the poisoning of prairie dogs (PDs). The ordinance was amended on July 3, 2001 to prohibit destruction of active prairie dog burrows.
What has this caused?
The severe degradation of agricultural properties and native grassland habitat. Today, with climate change and land fragmentation, this species-specific protection has led to exploding populations that have stripped the land, destroyed grasslands and habitat for other native species, damaged soils, and the loss of our historic agricultural practices. The farmers and ranchers who lease and manage these open space lands are struggling, and the ordinances currently in place need to be revised so they can effectively manage the lands. OSMP simply does not have the staff, money, nor the time to take this over if these farmers and ranchers leave.
What does our current and future open space lands look like?
- loss of revenue
- abandoned lands left to deteriorate
- loss of valuable water rights
- unproductive agricultural lands
- loss of top soil: native grasses and flowers replaced by invasive weed species
- bad air quality, there are no longer grasses to hold the soils in place
- loss of grassland habitat for ground nesting birds
County vs City: might as well build a wall!
I had the opportunity to attend the recent Boulder County Open Space Open House, in Longmont this past January. Participants included County Open Space managers, wildlife biologists and other interested citizens. The presentation, with Q & A time, reviewed the 2019 progress of their prairie dog (PD) mitigation efforts on northern agricultural lands in the County, the results in 2019, and the future of 2020.
County land mangers are working hard to preserve agricultural lands, but in 2019, Boulder County Open Space was still not able to address more than 30 agricultural properties because of time and staffing. Additionally, 24 properties that had been cleared, need to be revisited for mitigation. Yet, even though the County has purchased two additional carbon monoxide machines, the time and staff required can not keep up with the numbers of PDs on County land alone, and with the approaching three month closure from April–June, during pupping season, they are concerned about an exponential increase in numbers.
The County seems to be doing a much better job. They are more proactive than the our City land managers. They are getting things done! City land managers are doing a lot of talking, have a lot of management plans, but getting little done, and these lands are in crisis. They are not being good environmental stewards, and they are not being good neighbors!
Why can’t City and County work together? Apparently NOT. “Policies do not cross borders“, as one official stated that evening. What happens to the co-owned properties, and properties that border each other? What happens to private property if you border County or City land? Well the cost to mitigate is on them. So many private land owners are living a nightmare.
During the presentation I was able to ask two questions of a Wildlife Biologist:
1. How many prairie dogs can one raptor eat?
2. If introduced, how many prairie dogs can one ferret eat per week?
She answered:
“If they are lucky, one raptor can eat one PD per day.” (from my observation, for more than 20 years, they actually prefer rabbit, mice and snakes—as do coyotes).
“One ferret can eat up to three PD’s per week.” (please note that this would only occur on HCA land not agricultural land, and we might be looking out as far as 2022 before a reintroduction occurs).
Now, I am not a mathematician (Marty Walters where are you?), but if we have 20,000 plus PD’s on City of Boulder Agricultural Open Space alone, exactly how is this going to work? Even more disturbing to some is that OSMP dusts burrows with pyrethrin (Delta dust), pre- and post-trapping for relocation, to prevent the possibility of plague. Many of us care deeply about the use of pesticides on public property and its effect on humans, bees, amphibians and other beneficial insects—needless to say how that is effecting the soils. It is also preventing the plague which currently appears to be the only tool open space managers have been using to control populations.
City of Boulder Open Space—so what can we change?
The lethal control of prairie dogs (PD’s) is a difficult subject for both OSMP staff and others in our community. However, it is OSMP’s job is to protect our public lands and ecosystems, not a single species at the expense of all else, and to follow the Charter, the OSMP Masterplan, the Agricultural Plan, the Grassland Plan, and Boulder’s Climate Commitment. We need to:
- Change the current ordinance and remove special requirements to mitigate. Currently, it can take up to 3 years to get approval to mitigate.
- Allow lethal control, and allow burrow destruction on agricultural properties after mitigation to prevent PD’s from returning.
Water is Life. Soil is Life
Agricultural lands need to stay irrigated, and without water there is no life. We do not want to lose water rights and we can not afford to lose precious topsoil. Tell the City Council, “Your Story”, whether you farm, have livestock, hike, bike, birdwatch, I know that you can see that we are a land in crisis, and tell the City to be better soil stewards of our lands.
At the scale we are at now (20,000 + PD’s, double that come May) on City of Boulder Open Space agricultural lands alone, we have few choices. Barriers can not be effective, relocation lands are not available and has high mortality rates, catch and release live animals to ferret reintroduction programs not realistic with the numbers we are talking about. One humane choice, Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Control (PERC). Write City Council, OSBT, and OSMP to move now before another breeding season. PERC is one of the most potent, yet humane ways to control rodents. And tell them to allow burrow destruction on agricultural lands.
Healthy Ecosystems and Agricultural Lands (HEAL), reviewed the 58-page draft document from OSMP and they have some grave concerns about the Expedited Management Review of Irrigated Fields Occupied by Prairie Dogs document. HEAL has recommend some changes and will present these to the Open Space Board and Council at upcoming meetings. Find out more about HEAL’s concerns here.
Share your input.
Deadlines: 5:00 PM, Tuesday, February 4 (best) / Sunday, February 16 (last chance)
1. Answer OSMP’s on-line survey
2. Send an email about prairie dogs and lethal control to OSMPInput@bouldercolorado.gov; OSBT-Web@bouldercolorado.gov; council@bouldercolorado.gov
Stop by the OSMP Hub if they need assistance in using the city’s online input tool.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
2:00 – 4:00 PM
2520 55th Street, Boulder
