A colony of prairie dogs within Boulder City limits is in imminent danger of being poisoned. An application was submitted, per Boulder's policy, for the lethal control of these prairie dogs to the Community Planning and Sustainability department. Once an application is submitted, the public has 60 days to comment, but comments are limited only to feasible relocation sites while all other comments suggesting that the county or developers find suitable land are not considered by the agency. This is unacceptable. Finding relocation land for prairie dogs is impossible without public land options unless you own a large amount of land. This is because laws restrict relocations and county officials don't want them on public land. Developers and county officials continually use the excuse of having no relocation site to mercilessly poison thousands of prairie dogs across the West. The responsibility of finding land for prairie dogs in danger because of development or ranching needs to fall on those seeking to destroy the existing wildlife. We insist that the developers and the county find viable solutions that do not involve lethal measures.

Further, Boulder County has a prairie dog management plan in place stating: "Boulder County seeks to develop a prairie dog management strategy that results in prairie dogs thriving where appropriate on open space properties." In Boulder County there are approximately 45,000 acres of open space land. It is inconceivable that 10 acres of that land, which is what is needed for these prairie dogs, is not appropriate for prairie dog habitat and relocation. Much of this open space land has been handed over to the ranching industry for pennies on the dollar and is leased out for cattle ranching which is the most destructive activity imaginable for prairie habitat. Public prairie lands need to be restored to the healthy vibrant ecosystems of the past and prairie dogs are essential to this goal. We insist that Boulder County and city officials find a viable living solution for these prairie dogs which are the keystone species of healthy prairies. Poisoning is not a solution.

When attempting to locate information on the company or individuals in charge of this development that will be destroying the 100 prairie dogs, we were told that in Boulder the public is not allowed to know who is in charge of the development or where the development is located. This legislation was obviously put in place to protect the developers as they exterminate prairie dog colonies. It is the public's right to know what developers have planned for the wildlife in our area and where the extermination is set to occur. It is not acceptable for a government agency to deny the public information about a development that affects lands and wildlife.

Black Tailed Prairie Dogs are down to less than 1% of their historic numbers. It is no longer acceptable to continue killing them and allow for the overdevelopment of our last remaining prairies. Please sign this petition and insist that Boulder County work insists that the applicant relocate these prairie dogs or to stop the destruction of their only homes.

Thank you,

WildLands Defense