WATCHDOG PROGRAM:

HELP PRAIRIE DOGS IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD!

Document where prairie dog colonies still exist in your neighborhood and estimate how large they are. Provide that information to RMAD so that we can create a regional map of this information (the Division of Wildlife mapping is already outdated). Find out (from your city or county clerk) who owns the property, and what it is zoned for. If it is zoned for any type of development, also find out if development plans have been submitted to the county/municipality, where building permits have been pulled (activated), the general schedule for development.

Contact the developer. Ask what the developer’s plans are concerning the wildlife on the parcel s/he seeks to develop. A) If s/he states that they will be relocated, ask who the relocator will be. There should be one response: Susan Miller with WildPlaces. B) Ask where the prairie dogs will be relocated to. This is key, as relocation sites are few and far between. Developers, of course, should be providing relocation sites themselves, as they’re the ones causing the crisis (in Denver/Boulder metro). Then, be sure to provide all of this information to the Watchdog program or to RMAD.

High Priority: Prairie dogs on open space. Believe it or not, even prairie dogs on open space are in trouble. Please contact Watchdogs or RMAD if you know of a situation where a municipality is seeking to remove or kill prairie dogs on open space. RMAD needs to get involved early in those cases, so we can fight the plan. This is a high priority because open space refuges are the prairie dogs’ last hope, and therefore require special protection.

Pawnee National Grassland. The PNG is closest to the Denver/Boulder metro area, and we should be pressuring them to take prairie dogs dislocated by development. They have an extreme lack of prairie dogs on the PNG, and allow them to be shot.

PLEASE BE SURE TO COPY RMAD ON ANY E-MAIL MESSAGES, LETTERS, PHONE CALLS, OR FAXES SENT TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN REGARD TO PRAIRIE DOGS AND THE SPECIES ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. ALL CORRESPONDENCES OF THIS TYPE CAN BE SENT TO THE BELOW INFORMATION:

RMAD

ATTN: WATCHDOG PROGRAM

2525 ARAPAHOE RD, SUITE E-4

BOULDER, CO 80302

Phone: 303-449-4422

E-mail: watchdog@rmad.org

RMAD’s sighting service: To report colonies that you are concerned about, RMAD has specific criteria that must be met before it can act: the locale of the colony, the size, the developer’s name, phone number, and a contact name, and the scheduled time of development.

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