DOW To Evaluate Prairie Dog Relocation Plan        May 2011   

By Genevieve Jacobi
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The City of Boulder is submitting an application to the Division of Wildlife for a permit to re-locate 500 prairie dogs from Foothills Park in North Boulder to Open Space land in Gunbarrel.
Val Matheson, the city’s urban wildlife specialist, explained that one week before submission, a mitigation plan will be posted online at the City of Boulder’s web site. One week after submission, the application itself will be available.

About 200 people who asked to receive updates are on the city’s wildlife list and will receive the information by
e-mail.

“No other community meetings are planned by city officials around this prairie dog relocation,” said Matheson. “We have received a suite of comments since the fall. DOW asks for a line itemization that is a description of the kinds of concerns neighbors have and about mitigation efforts to address these concerns.”

During her two-year tenure in her current position, Matheson sent one other application to DOW involving prairie dog relocation, and that application was approved. However, the proposed Gunbarrel relocation has turned out to be much more controversial.

A group of vocal residents banded together in the fall of 2010 to stall this relocation. Naming themselves “The Concerned Citizens of Gunbarrel,” members have been meeting regularly in the last two months to organize efforts against the prairie dog transfer.

The group recently circulated a flier in Gunbarrel detailing the concerns, including the migration of prairie dogs into private property, the city having no mitigation strategy to resolve human/animal conflicts, and denudation of land.
Larry Buckendorf, a retiree from IBM who moved to his Gunbarrel Estates neighborhood in 1975, recalled when the Cito brothers grew hay in the surrounding fields to feed their dairy cattle. Buckendorf said that the prairie dogs began migrating naturally into the area in 1996 or 1997. In a matter of a few years, the land was saturated with burrows.
Buckendorf’s personal concerns about prairie dogs include the obtrusive sight from his backyard of denuded fields caused by prairie dogs, the extreme wind-born dust that results from such worn down fields, and prairie dogs repeatedly attempting to colonize his yard in the past.

“I love animals. I grew up hunting but quit because of my love for animals,” Buckendorf said. “Let nature take its course. The existing prairie dog colony will repopulate the land.”
Another active member of The Concerned Citizens of Gunbarrel is Rob O’Dea, a Heatherwood resident. O’Dea owns a marketing and consulting firm and has worked extensively as a professional photographer. He said, “The group has collected approximately 600 signatures on a petition and made contact with every decision maker involved in the relocation process.”

Given the costs involved - a minimum of $75 per prairie dog - O’Dea called the relocation “irresponsible” given a city and county budget crisis that will see significant cuts in services this year.
O’Dea had several suggestions for alternatives to the Gunbarrel relocation. These include dispersing the overflow of Foothills prairie dogs to existing colonies throughout City of Boulder properties or selling the colony to raptor rehabilitation facilities. The city could also re-introduce black footed ferrets (a federally endangered species). Finally, O’Dea believes that the City of Boulder should improve its mitigation efforts to reduce prairie dog spread on the soccer field.
 
The City of Boulder’s web site is www.bouldercolorado.gov. For more information about Concerned Citizens of Gunbarrel, see  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/concernedCitizensOfGunbarrel.

Following is a schedule of upcoming dates related to this issue:

Below find the project plan from Valerie Matheson as the Urban Wildlife Conservation Coordinator
City of Boulder
Community Planning and Sustainability Department

·         April 14 – Post issues identified and send out project update email

·         April 18 - May 23 Develop mitigation plan for issues identified
·         May 24 - Post mitigation proposal (www.boulderwildlifeplan.net)
·         June 2 – Submit permit application to Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW)
·         July 5 – Permit issued or denied from CDOW (estimated 30 day review*)
·         July/August - Relocation to begin if permitted