Prairie dogs sharing groundhogs day
Rocky Mountain News
Published January 29, 2007 at midnight
Has anyone asked Punxsutawney Phil if he minds sharing Friday with a bunch of far distant cousins?
It’s happening in parts of the west where Prairie Dog Day has been declared for Feb. 2 as a day to celebrate the role the small plains rodent plays in the prairie ecosystem.
The closest relative to the groundhog in Colorado is the yellow-bellied marmot, but honoring him in February does no good because he’s hibernating far below some rock outcropping from the tundra to the upper foothills and has no intention of coming out to look for his shadow for another couple of months.
So Forest Guardians, a Southwestern-based conservation group, has declared the closest awake relative to the groundhog, the black-tailed prairie dog, as honoree.
Lauren McCain, Forest Guardians’ desert and grassland program director from Denver, sent a release stating that last year Santa Fe and Albuquerque officially declared Feb. 2 Prairie Dog Day.
This year, Boulder and Lakewood both issued proclamations declaring Feb. 2 "Prairie Dog Day," and pledged to honor the importance of this Western prairie and mountain grasslands keystone species.
"Just as the groundhog predicts the duration of winter, the West’s ‘groundhog’ — the prairie dog — foretells the future of a community of wildlife dependent on prairie dogs for food and for the habitat they create," McCain said.
She pointed out that several species, such as the black-footed ferret, mountain plover, swift fox, ferruginous hawk, and burrowing owl are endangered or declining due to a 98 to 99 percent reduction in prairie dog acreage in the Great Plains from the historic high.
Prairie dog towns also are drawing increased attention from the public because of the opportunity they provide to view wildlife.
Forest Guardians along with the Jefferson County Open School, the Prairie Dog Coalition, Prairie Dog Specialists, and Jews of the Earth are visiting schools in the weeks leading up to and following Feb. 2 to teach elementary and high school students about prairie dogs and their wildlife communities.
Forest Guardians, Jefferson County Open School, and the other groups will cap off their Prairie Dog Day celebration with a party and press conference at the Stone House on the Bear Creek Greenbelt in Lakewood.
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