CITIZENS GROUP PRESENTS RELOCATION PROPOSAL TO BOULDER
VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
A group of four citizens submitted a proposal today for relocating prairie dogs from four sites at Boulder Valley School District (Click here to view or download a PDF of the proposal. To learn more about PDFs, click here).
The proposal provides a number of suggestions on the leasing or purchase of land on which to relocate the prairie dogs. The favored option suggests that BVSD work with Boulder County to find a suitable release site. The group asserts that Boulder County is a party to the rescue effort because the school district exists within the county and the county has taxpayer-bought open space land available as a release site.
The proposal offers free labor to relocate the prairie dogs and to keep the school sites free of prairie dogs in the future, the latter of which will involve the establishment and maintenance of barriers and buffer zones.
The proposal group also offered to manage or support efforts to negotiate the purchase or leasing of land, whether in partnership with Boulder County or any other interested parties, including the cities of Lafayette, Louisville, and Boulder, corporations such as StorageTek, and private landowners.
Because of the general consensus among city and county staff and relocators that relocation season is nearing its end, the proposal group is operating under the impression that the school district will allow an extended period of time during which to accomplish the relocation. This is why the proposal includes options for (1) marking or erecting fences around existing active burrows at all four sites and (2) filling in inactive burrow entrances. If the district will in fact not wait until this summer for relocation, the proposal group is prepared to facilitate the relocation of prairie dogs from Sanchez Elementary, Platt Middle School, and Centaurus High School to a temporary location at the Monarch site. The prairie dogs at Monarch, because of their large number, would have to be relocated over the summer.
The proposal also offers community funding support. More than $3,500 has been pledged to date.
The Humane Alternatives proposal was prepared by Judy Enderle, Pam Wanek, Sandy Nervig, Penny Dumas, and Mardy Nelson.
THE HISTORY
The Boulder Valley School
District of Boulder, Colo., planned to poison four prairie dog colonies over
the 2001 holiday school break. Citing a hazard to students who might trip
over the burrows, school officials forged ahead with the poisoning plan, despite
pleas from a citizens' group of prairie dog advocates to implement a more
humane solution. The citizens' group asked the district to (1) scrap the poisoning
plan and to humanely relocate the few prairie dogs whose burrows are creating
an immediate threat on the ball fields; (2) establish a long-term relocation
plan for one of the sites; and (3) establish long-term management or relocation
plans for the other three sites. The group is urging that these latter three
sites be used to the extent possible as experimental areas for innovative
management techniques, most notably vegetative barriers. The advocates agreed
to manage the colonies and to handle situations in which the prairie dogs
might move outside these experimental areas. The advocates also agreed to
work with the district to implement humane relocation if these alternative
measures did not work.
The District refused this offer, saying the only workable solution is to poison
the prairie dogs.
Members of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense asked for a temporary restraining
order because District Judge Frank Dubofsky had not yet ruled on RMAD's lawsuit
regarding poisoning and the Colorado constitution. On Dec. 28, Dubofsky failed
to issue the temporary restraining order.
In issuing his decision, Judge Dubofsky said there is no presumption that
animals protected from poisoning by the Colorado constitution (including rabbits
and salamanders) are found in prairie dog burrows. He said that, in order
for a poisoning to be illegal, a protected species must be seen going into
or out of a burrow.
Prairie dog experts, including scientists and relocators, made a compelling
case in court this past summer that protected animals likely exist in most
prairie dog towns. For more information about the RMAD lawsuit,
click here.
The BVSD announced shortly after the holidays that the planned poisoning of wildlife on prairie dog burrows would be delayed "to give prairie dog supporters a chance to bring forth proposed resources for alternative plans.”
According to spokesperson Janelle Albertson, the district made the decision because poisoning wasn’t accomplished over the holiday break and because of the number of calls and offers for help it has received from the public.
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