April 2023 | Boulder City Council accepts agriculture, prairie dog, soil health and land restoration recommendations
Thank you to all of Boulder’s citizens who engaged wholeheartedly in this process to protect our local ecosystems and foodshed!
For the City of Boulder’s summary of the prairie dog process & the recent decision, please visit https://bouldercolorado.gov/osmp/prairie-dogs-process.
We also recommend the City’s 27-minute video tour, “Management Review of Irrigated Lands Occupied by Prairie Dogs.”
After listening to 3 hours of public testimony on 8/11/20; reading over 500 emails on the subject; studying their 70-page packet; and deliberating for 2 ½ hours…on 9/2/20 at 12:38 am Boulder’s City Council voted 8 to 1 to approve staff’s proposed plan and reinstitute lethal control of prairie dogs by special permit within a limited “project area” of OSMP’s irrigated agricultural lands.
Council also directed the City Manager to draft a special rule to allow burrow disturbance within the project area on OSMP’s irrigated agricultural lands, according to the 3”/6”/12” rule proposed by staff.
Council directed staff to also:
1) consider relocating more prairie dogs if outside funding, resources and relocation sites become available through work by prairie dog advocates, and
2) participate in (but not lead) a collaborative shared learning process convened by an outside party to assess the feasibility of the coexistence of agriculture with prairie dogs, which also addresses soil health recovery and climate change.
So what does this all mean?
1. Money for staff’s approved plan is evenly split between relocation of prairie dogs and lethal control of prairie dogs. Half the money will remove prairie dogs from 30-40 acres annually using relocation, and will restore that land. The other half will remove prairie dogs from 100-200 acres annually using lethal control, and will restore that land. Relocation is estimated to cost $4,400/acre, whereas lethal control costs about $221/acre. Most of the costs for the 30-40 acres of relocation are for live-trapping and constructing nesting boxes. Most of the costs for the 100-200 acres of lethal control are for additional staff salaries, barrier construction and land restoration.
2. Staff’s plan only applies to the “Project Area”: OSMP irrigated agricultural lands north of Jay Rd. and mostly west of the Diagonal. Lands designated as “Transition” and “Removal” in masterplans will be addressed first. Irrigated agricultural lands designated as “Grassland” and “Multiple Objective Area” will be addressed later. It is unclear when lands outside the Project Area will be addressed.
3. Staff’s goal is 100% removal of prairie dogs from irrigated agricultural fields. Staff will work with adjacent neighbors and tenants to coordinate removals from an entire area. Once fields are cleared, barriers will be constructed, so prairie dogs will have a harder time recolonizing the area. Barriers costs are estimated between $1.70 (temporary fabric), $7.70 (chicken wire) and $38 (buried metal) per linear foot.
4. Once prairie dogs are removed, staff will restore the land by plowing, seeding, applying compost, and irrigating. Irrigation infrastructure will need repair, and depending on the severity of erosion and soil degradation from long-term prairie dog occupation, restoration will take 1-10 years, with estimated costs ranging from $120 to $360/acre.
5. OSMP will hold 1 or more annual meetings with tenants and citizens, probably each October, and will discuss the last year’s activities, lessons learned, funding allocated, properties addressed, and their plan for the next year. They will take feedback and revise their plan accordingly.
6. Staff’s plan will start in 2021, using a special permit issued by Boulder’s City Manager. However, because of COVID, the plan may be scaled back at first.
7. Burrow Disturbance Ordinance: The City Manager will issue a rule that growers on OSMP irrigated agricultural lands are allowed to disturb prairie dog burrows in their fields with the following limitations:
a. System-wide, burrows on OSMP’s irrigated ag parcels can be disturbed to a depth of 3 inches.
b. In the Project Area ONLY, burrows on OSMP’s irrigated ag parcels can be disturbed to a depth of 6 inches.
c. In the Project area ONLY, burrows on OSMP’s irrigated ag parcels that are classified as Transition or Removal can apply for a Special Permit with advance notification to disturb burrows to a depth of 12 inches, but ONLY between June 2 and February 28, meaning that NOTHING deeper than 6 inches during spring planting season will be allowed to disturb burrows.
d. Key-line plowing, creating irrigation laterals, seedbed prep, seeding, tillage between rows and mechanical harvesting will be the only activities allowed to apply for a special permit.