Blacktailed prairie dogs

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RESULTS FROM OVER A DECADE OF BLACK-TAILED
PRAIRIE DOG MONITORING
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Heartland Network Inventory Monitoring Program
National Park Service U.S. Department of the
Interior
Protecting the Habitat of Our Heritage"
Scotts Bluff National Monument
National Park Service U.S. Department of the
Interior
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the
Interior
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Importance of Monitoring

• Inhabits lt 2 of historically occupied habitat
• Warranted listing as a threatened species
• Keystone species
• SCBL is one of seven parks with BTPD
• Colony at SCBL provides valuable insight into the
  population dynamics of a small colony

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Importance of Monitoring

• BTPD inhabit lt 2 of historically occupied
  habitat
• Warranted listing as a threatened species
• Keystone species
• SCBL is one of seven parks with BTPD
• Colony at SCBL provides valuable insight into the
  population dynamics of a small colony

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Background

• 1981 colony established from vagrant individuals
• 1983 - 1988 research by ISU
• 1989 - 1993 monitoring by park staff
• 1995 - 1997 protocol development
• 1998 - 2005 full implementation of monitoring
  protocol by IM staff

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Monitoring Objectives

• Population estimates

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Monitoring Objectives

• Population estimates
• Colony mapping

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Monitoring Objectives

• Population estimates
• Colony mapping
• Sylvatic plague

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Conclusion

• Black-tailed prairie dogs can establish a colony
  from a few vagrant individuals
• Black-tailed prairie dog populations can recover
  from a massive die-off.
• Though speculative, we have evidence that small
  prairie dog colony dynamics are influenced by
  rain fall.
• Sylvatic plague has not been observed in the
  colony at Scotts Bluff for the past 11 years.