Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

The Bush Administration and South Dakota’s Governor have teamed up to implement a plan that will destroy vital black-footed ferret habitat and possibly push this Endangered species back to the brink of extinction. The Conata Basin in South Dakota’s Buffalo Gap National Grassland hosts the only successful black-footed ferret recovery site in the world. In July 2004, the Federal Government and State of South Dakota announced a cooperative plan to eradicate black-tailed prairie dogs in prime ferret habitat in the Conata Basin, the South Dakota Prairie Dog Management 2004-05 Inter-agency Action Plan (‘Action Plan’). Ferrets depend on prairie dogs and their burrows for food and shelter. As part of the Action Plan, South Dakota will release its new prairie dog management plan on September 25, which is a political effort to force federal agencies to follow state mandates. Under the Action Plan, public officials are forging ahead with massive prairie dog extermination without consulting the public or analyzing the potential impacts to ferrets and other wildlife. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages the Grassland, will open up Conata Basin to black-tailed prairie dog poisoning and shooting by October 1.

Read the Government Plan to Destroy Black-footed Ferret Habitat (PDF)