Wednesday, June 02, 2010Last Update: 7:14 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Listing of the white-tailed prairie dog as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 12 month status review of the species. In its study, the agency repeatedly noted the absence of data on the stress caused by oil and gas exploration, mineral mining, and urban development. Although, data indicating that the species is thriving also was not readily apparent.
           The agency's 2007 90 day finding that listing the prairie dog is not warranted has been reviewed as one of the decisions inappropriately influenced by Bush Administration appointee former Interior Department deputy assistant secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald resigned after an inspector general's report found that she had improperly leaked information to private organizations, bullied staff scientists and broken federal rules.
           Prairie dogs actually are ground squirrels. Five types of the burrowing mammals live in the U.S., and the white-tailed are the least social, living in small underground burrows consisting of a male, his harem and their young. Prairie dogs are notable for the kissing and nuzzling with which they greet members of their burrow.
           The prairie dog was once endemic to the entire Great Plains but it is estimated that 98 percent of their historic range has been converted to farming. Loss of habitat is the greatest threat to prairie dog survival, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife decisions on the black-tailed cousins of the white-tailed prairie dog.
           While the agency recognizes that development was an historic stress on all populations of prairie dogs, it states that current populations seem to be thriving in the more arid areas of their historic range and reproducing at rates sufficient to support the survival of the species for the foreseeable future.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to remove the Lake Erie Watersnake from the list of species protected by the Endangered Species Act, calling the species "recovered."
     The Lake Erie watersnake, which lives on the U.S. offshore islands of western Lake Erie, was listed as a threatened species in 1999.
     In 2005, the agency released the final recovery plan for the snake outlining the conditions which would indicate full recovery of the species, including attainment of an estimated population size of 5,555 or more adult snakes on the U.S. islands for six or more consecutive years, creation and maintenance of sufficient summer and hibernation habitat protected in perpetuity, and change of public perception of the snake with particular emphasis on the fact that the snakes are not venomous.
     The agency has determined that these conditions have been met and that continued listing of the species is no longer necessary. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Web site lists the 2008 population estimate of the Lake Erie watersnake at 12,000 adults. Public information will be accepted on the agency's proposal until Aug. 2.
     The agency conducts five year status reviews on all species designated for protection under the act, to monitor their recovery.