A three-month moratorium on the destruction of prairie dogs inhabiting county-owned farm land already deemed off-limits to the rodents, was lifted Thursday by the Boulder County Commissioners in a unanimous vote.
All three commissioners agreed with Boulder County Parks & Open Space staff and local farmers that the moratorium has led to an overpopulation of prairie dogs which have damaged topsoil on prime farmland.
“... Our tenant farmers have been trying to make a living and our policies should not make that hard for them,” said Commissioner Claire Levy.
Many who spoke during Thursday’s public hearing supported doing away with the March 1 through May 31 moratorium. The rule banned lethal control of prairie dogs on land designated by the county as No Prairie Dog areas. Other areas in the county set aside for prairie dogs will not be affected by the moratorium.
Suzanne Webel, a Longmont farmer, told the commissioners prairie dogs lead to soil erosion, help introduce noxious weeds, and eliminate forage for livestock. “If these prairie dogs are not controlled, we will be inundated with them,” Webel said. “Please don’t fall for any delays, this is an emergency.”
Others told the commissioners eradicating the animals is only a short-term solution and would put undue pressure on birds of prey, including eagles, who depend on prairie dogs for food.
“This is inhumane,” Longmont’s Ruby Bowman said. “You are not taking into account other species. I hope you consider our eagles in your decision.”
The destruction of the prairie dogs does not apply to other areas they live including Habitat Conservation Areas, said Mike Foster, agricultural division manager for the county’s Parks & Open Space.
The moratorium was approved in 1999 for the prairie dog breeding season, Foster said. The county has adopted different measures to deal with prairie dogs in the No Prairie Dog areas, including relocation and passive control efforts including fencing.
But as prairie dog populations continue to grow, the county has been forced to use more lethal control such as live trapping and injecting a prairie dog burrow with compressed carbon monoxide gas, according to a staff report to the commissioners.
Those methods have not been successful in getting rid of the animals on agricultural land, and lifting the moratorium will help cut their population, Foster said. “We really don’t want them on our farm land,” he said. “By lifting the moratorium, we will be eliminating fewer of the animals in the long term.”
Boulder County Parks & Open Space manages 25,000 acres of agricultural land, 16,000 of which are croplands, the staff report states .The croplands generate about $1.3 million annually in revenue for the county and are managed by 67 tenant farmers.
There are 3,588 acres of known prairie dog colonies on county land with only 768 acres of prairie dogs colonies on No Prairie Dog areas, which represents 4% of the cropland, the report states.
When crop land is damaged, including by prairie dogs, the county reimburses the tenant farmers and when the problem is severe enough, has discounted their rent by up to 50%, the report states.
The costs to the county, on average, is $18,000 per year in lost revenue due to crop damages and rent discounts. The prairie dog management program itself costs $206,000 annually, primarily in staffing and equipment, Foster told the commissioners.
“It really is a large expense for our department,” Foster said.
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