By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Senior Judge Jack Lively has denied Logan County's bid to exterminate prairie dogs on the 10,000-acre ranch that is now home to dozens of endangered black-footed ferrets.

In a seven-page ruling issued Monday, Lively -- a retired Coffeyville judge assigned to hear the Logan County case -- turned aside a bid from Logan County commissioners to force the poisoning of prairie dogs on land owned by Larry and Bette Haverfield and Gordon Barnhardt.

As a result, an earlier ruling by Shawnee County District Judge Charles Andrews will stand, limiting poisoning to a 90-foot barrier surrounding the property.

"That's good news," Haverfield said.

"That's wonderful," agreed Ron Klataske, executive of Audubon of Kansas.

He went on to give accolades to the Haverfields and Barnhardt, calling them heroes of conservation.

"There are very few people who would be willing to withstand that assault," he said of the challenges to keeping black-footed ferrets on their land.

Barnhardt was pleased as well, but upset with everything that has surrounded the ferret reintroduction project.

"We at least have two colonies of black-footed ferrets in the state," he said. "Even though they are both in the same county."

Because of Lively's ruling, there's also no need for a trial, which had been scheduled for October.

"The court concludes that there are no material issues of fact that remain at issue and accordingly, this court holds that this matter is ripe for summary judgment," Lively said in his ruling.

He went on to lay out the reasons for his decision denying Logan County's request to allow it to exterminate prairie dogs.

While the state law allows townships to go on private land and poison prairie dogs, it was the presence of the ferrets that made the difference in this case, argued Randy Rathbun, the Wichita attorney representing Haverfield and Barnhardt. Ferrets, he said, are protected by federal law.

"This court is confronted with an irreconcilable conflict between a Kansas statute passed in 1901, which requires townships to exterminate all prairie dogs in townships 'infested by prairie dogs' and the Endangered Species Act," he said. "It is uncontroverted that the extermination of all prairie dogs ... would result in the death of the black-footed ferrets on the property, which are the most endangered mammals in North America."

Logan County, Lively said, "has not provided the court with a clear indication of its intentions."

Initially, he said, the county had contended Haverfield should be prevented from interfering with the county's "eradication program." But, he noted, a response to the motion for summary judgement "speaks in terms of a cooperative effort" with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lively also found that under Kansas law, injunctive relief is not available without a showing of the probability of irreparable future harm.

But he pointed to the free prairie dog extermination effort that has been offered to neighbors within a 3 mile radius of the Haverfield complex.

"Again, the defendant's response was simply to allege that the forms of extermination used by FWS have not been effective and cite no authority for this position," he said.