USFWS releases Utah prairie dog plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released a general conservation plan intended to “protect the Utah prairie dog and benefit economic productivity.”

This plan, released in consultation with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, allows the Service to issue permits for incidental take of Utah prairie dogs, so long as a conservation plan that minimizes or mitigates impacts to the species is followed.

Utah prairie dogs (Cynomys parvidens) are found in seven counties in central southwestern and Utah: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Piute, Sevier, and Wayne.

A group of agencies will help the Service implement the plan, including the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Iron, Garfield and Beaver counties.

Read more on this new plan from U.S. News and World Report.

See The Wildlife Society’s Standing Position on Threatened and Endangered Species and Position Statement on the U.S. Endangered Species Act.