Bennett Invites Fish and Wildlife Officials to See Utah Prairie Dogs

Press Release

Bennett Invites Fish and Wildlife Officials to See Utah Prairie Dogs

Wants permit process sped up to safely remove prairie dogs from private land so landowners can build on their own property

Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) this week invited Tom Strickland, President Obama's nominee to be the Department of the Interior's assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to visit Utah to see firsthand the problems caused by prairie dogs invading private land in Southern Utah.

"I would like to ask you, if confirmed, to commit to visiting Southern Utah to see the prairie dog issue firsthand," said Bennett. "Southern Utah is a prime example of the challenges communities face because of the Endangered Species Act. We need to speed up the permit process so homeowners will no longer have to wait years to build on their own property and the prairie dog can safely be relocated back to the desert where he belongs."

Strickland replied that if confirmed he would commit to working with Senator Bennett on relocating the prairie dog from private lands, and said he was very familiar with the tools to help implement habitat protection plans on endangered species. The invitation from Bennett came during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Strickland's nomination.

When explaining some of problems caused by the prairie dogs infiltrating private land, Bennett said, "If you like golf, come to the Cedar City golf course and I almost guarantee you a hole in one because the prairie dog has already put a hole wherever it is you plan to put your ball."

The Utah prairie dog is classified as threatened on the endangered species list. Iron County is currently governed by an approved Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), originally intended to offset harmful effects that any proposed activity, such as construction, might have on the prairie dog. This HCP is so inadequate and outdated that landowners who want to build homes or buildings must wait on average at least five years before they can acquire the appropriate permits because of the prairie dogs that are on their property.

Senator Bennett supports Iron County's efforts to develop a new HCP that would help alleviate the problem. The new HCP would place a greater emphasis on developing public lands to host a sustainable and biologically diverse prairie dog population while keeping intrusions to private lands to a minimum. The plans also aim to incorporate enough flexibility to accommodate private land development.

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