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By MIKE CORN
Hays Daily News
The 90-day finding for putting the black-tailed prairie dog on the endangered species list won't be coming until sometime in August.
The request, however, was first made in August by Forest Guardians, an environmental group based in Colorado.
The delay, said Pete Gober, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a result of numerous other requests for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.
As a result, the prairie dog request has been delayed, he said.
Gober is based in Pierre, S.D., and is the lead biologist on the request.
Forest Guardians made the request in August, following its decision to dismiss a federal lawsuit against FWS for failing to list the black-tailed prairie dog as an endangered species.
The court case was dismissed just prior to the August request.
FWS already is reconsidering several listings, brought about because of improper political interference by a former appointee to the agency.
Forest Guardians also filed a number of requests for the list, two of which contained nearly 700 plant and animal species.
This is not the first time that black-tailed prairie dogs have been petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The National Wildlife Federation in 1998 asked the same thing, and the animal was deemed to qualify for the list. It was, however, determined to be "warranted but precluded."
That effectively means it qualified but did not go on the list because of higher priority animals.
In 2004, after a series of information was obtained from states, FWS dropped the prairie dog from the eligibility list.
Special-projects coordinator Mike Corn can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 129, or by e-mail at mcorn@dailynews.net.
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