Prairie dog management proposal heard

Counties could adopt black-tailed prairie dog management programs under a bill heard by the Agriculture Committee Feb. 15.

LB473, introduced by Ellsworth Sen. LeRoy Louden, would permit counties to adopt resolutions creating coordinated black-tailed prairie dog management programs. Landowners with black-tailed prairie dog colonies on their property would be required to prevent expansion of the colonies to a neighboring property if the adjacent landowner objected to such an expansion.

The county board would provide general notice of the program in one or more newspapers in the county. Landowners whose properties serve as a habitat for unmanaged black-tailed prairie dog colonies could receive individual notice.

After receiving individual notice, landowners would have 60 days to provide evidence of appropriate management actions. If, after the 60 days, a landowner failed to remit required notice and evidence, the county could enter his or her property for the purpose of managing the colony. Expenses associated with managing the colony would be added as a lien on a landowner’s property if unpaid after two months.

Landowners failing to take appropriate action could be fined $100 per day per violation up to a total of $1,500.

Louden said LB473 is meant to control infestations of black-tailed prairie dogs so that landowners do not repeatedly have to eradicate rodents coming from an adjacent property. Currently, some landowners who engage in management actions see infestations shortly thereafter due to an unmanaged colony nearby, he said.

Allan Guse of Longmont, Colo., testified in support of the bill, saying his family’s ranch south of Hay Springs has prairie dog infestations due to passive landowners. He said his family has spent $1,200 on poisoning measures that provide only temporary relief.

Black-tailed prairie dogs devastate pastureland by destroying vegetation and digging holes in which cattle and wildlife can fall and break their legs, Guse said.

“We’re not advocating controlling the freedom of landowners to do as they wish with their land,” Guse said, “but when that freedom affects other landowners by increasing the costs to earn a livelihood, then it’s time for action such as this bill to ensure they are not forced to bear the burden unjustly.”

Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, also testified in support of the bill. Because county boards would need to adopt resolutions to create management programs, he said, the bill would affect only counties with troublesome black-tailed prairie dog populations.

Jarel Vinduska, representing the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, testified in opposition to LB473, saying prairie dogs are native to Nebraska, not an invasive species. The only way to respect a landowner’s right to keep prairie dogs on his or her property, he said, is to use the current standard of managing them at the fence line.

“I think it is bad public policy to [target] a native species and take away a person’s private property rights and say that you have to take care of them on your property,” Vinduska said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.