Damage Identification

Prairie dogs live in burrows approximately 10 yards apart, 3 to 14 feet deep, and 10 to 100 feet long or more. A crater-like mound, 3 to 10 feet across and a foot or more tall at the entrance to the burrow prevents water from rushing in and serves as a lookout station. A density of 35 burrows per acre is common, although up to 100 burrows per acre have been reported. Most burrow systems have one entrance, although some have two or even three entrances.

Economic importance

Prairie dogs and their burrows serve as important hosts for numerous animals. Eighty-nine vertebrate species were found associated with prairie dog towns in Oklahoma. The prairie dog serves as an important food source for predators including endangered blackfooted ferrets, badgers, coyotes, foxes, eagles, prairie falcons, hawks, owls, and possibly bobcats, mink, and longtailed weasels. Burrows provide homes for burrowing owls, cottontail rabbits, rattlesnakes, and other animals. Prairie dogs offer recreation for photographers, hunters, and nature observers.

Prairie dog burrowing decreases soil compaction, increases water intake, aerates the soil, and promotes soil formation. On a typical town with 25 mounds per acre, the amount of soil exposed on the mound and adjacent areas is less than 3 percent of the total area. This denudation does not normally cause severe soil erosion.

Effects on range

Prairie dogs modify rangeland to meet conditions that favor survival. They feed on many of the same grasses and forbs that are important to livestock. Most plants eaten by livestock also may be eaten by prairie dogs. Annual dietary overlap has been estimated at 64 to 90 percent.

Prairie dog clipping selectively influences the abundance of various plants in an area. The effect on rangeland forage and livestock production depends on geographic location, rainfall, dominant grass species, and other factors. A variety of effects on rangeland vegetation have been reported: from no obvious effects to a 20- to 40-percent reduction in forage availability, to increasing the percent of grass species preferred by livestock.

Prairie dogs may improve forage. Plants clipped by prairie dogs stay in a "younger" stage of maturity, which is more palatable and digestible to cattle. Younger plants often have a higher crude protein level, which increases nutrient value.

In times of drought when less forage is available, competition from prairie dogs is more noticeable. The 2002 and 2003 droughts illustrated the rangeland devastation that can result from too many grazers (either prairie dogs or cattle) and too little rainfall. Higher quality vegetation does not benefit cattle producers if there is not enough vegetation for cattle to eat. Bare ground is more evident because forage is shorter and more widely spaced. As a result, prairie dogs affect more acres. Although numbers may not increase, prairie dogs spread out to fi nd forage and appear more numerous.