"When the government came out in the 1930s and 1940s to poison the prairie dog they didn't provide enough funding to eradicate them on tribal lands. Now, the tribes are carrying a lot of the burden for managing prairie dogs. We want to make sure the tribes aren't left out again."
Fox said tribes will participate in any prairie dog conservation program on the same level as the 11 states.
He disagrees the rodent ruins the grasslands. "In a normal rain year, cattle and other wildlife will get more use out of the (weeds) on a prairie dog colony because the plants keep growing back. They don't totally ruin it. But once the growing season ends and the grass is gone, all most people see is a barren piece of land. In dry years, it's bad all around."
For several years Fox managed the prairie dog complex on Montana's Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
The reason ranchers and farmers are interested in protecting a species they were raised to hate is simple, said Scott Klundt of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Washington, D.C.—"to prevent its listing as an endangered species. Once a species is listed, then comes habitat designations and restrictions on land use."
"The beauty of the proposal is that it preserves the individual landowner's right to make a decision," adds Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.
Environmentalists are also happy with the turn of events, saying the program could signify the turning of the tide for the much maligned rodent.
"The fact that such diverse groups, that traditionally cannot agree on most issues, actually agree on this voluntary incentives approach to restore prairie dogs is precedent setting," said Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance, based in Bozeman.
If Congress approves the funding for landowner easements, prairie dog habitat could almost double across the Great Plains, from about 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) to about 1.9 million acres (770,000 hectares). But, Proctor warns that it's still a drop in the bucket, "less than half a percent of the historic Great Plains."
Reservations may see increased business in catering to shooters as western states begin regulating hunting the prairie dogs.
Chuck Cornett, editor of Prairie Dog Digest—the how and where to hunt prairie dogs—brought the magazine's annual promotional hunt to Fort Belknap in July. The reservation contains about 13,000 acres (5,000 hectares) of prairie dog towns.
The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes protect areas around Snake Butte where black-footed ferrets were reintroduced about five years ago at the Buffalo Commons. That area encompasses about 2,000 acres (800 hectares).
Sport shooting is allowed on other prairie dog towns and generates income for the tribes through sales of permits and hiring guides.
Cornett, frustrated with the burgeoning politics surrounding the animal, chose the reservation, in part, because "the only people allowed to protest are those who live on the reservation."
Other reservations supporting prairie dog towns also sell permits and provide guides.
Copyright 2001, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, South Dakota.
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