Arizona Reporter » Black-Footed Ferret, Recovery Efforts Require Volunteers

I wish I lived near Arizonia right now because volunteers needed for the Black-footed ferret recovery efforts:

Arizona Reporter » Black-Footed Ferret, Recovery Efforts Require Volunteers

...March 17-21, Game and Fish will be conducting its annual spring spotlighting effort and needs volunteers to help document black-footed ferret numbers throughout the Aubrey Valley, just west of Seligman.


"Volunteers have always played a vital role in this recovery effort," said Jeff Pebworth, wildlife program manager at the Game and Fish Kingman office. "We don't have the personnel available to fully staff these events, and the program's continued success depends on people remaining involved."


Those wishing to volunteer, or needing more information, should e-mail azferret@azgfd.gov by March 11 with "March Spotlighting" in the subject line. Individuals should indicate which night(s) they are available to help; include a first and last name, a contact number, and if anyone else will be attending with them.


Additional information will be sent following contact, including meeting location and times.


Volunteers should also note any of the following equipment they can bring: GPS, clipboard, backpack (to carry a 30-pound battery), headlamp, pen, compass, binoculars, walkie-talkies, 4x4 vehicle (please list passenger capacity), compass, spotlight (that can plug into a cigarette lighter), or a cordless rechargeable spotlight.

If you join the volunteer effort, please write me about your experiences.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

"Return of the Prairie Bandit" documentary to air February 10 on CBC's "Nature of Things"

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's version of PBS in the US, will air filmmaker Kenton Vaughan's documentary "Return of the Prairie Bandit" on Thursday, February10, at 8:00 p.m. on "The Nature of Things."

This dramatic story of the ferrets’ reintroduction to the wild unfolds in Return of the Prairie Bandit, a new documentary by Kenton Vaughan set in the stunning prairie of southern Saskatchewan... At Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada’s last refuge for prairie dogs, the painstaking, precarious campaign to bring the ferret back is underway. Shot over the course of one year, Returnof the Prairie Bandit is a fascinating look at the ups and downs of this campaign set against the sweeping, stark beauty of the park.


The film charts the progress made by wildlife biologist Travis Livieri who is spearheading the black-footed ferret revival in North America. Alongside Parks Canada staff, he directs the release of the animal onto prairie dog colonies, and returns each season to check on their survival rate. At each turn, the ferrets face seemingly catastrophic challenges, from an unseasonably harsh winter to plague.

The show will air again on Thursday, February 17, at 10 pm ET/PT. For US audiences, visit "The Nature of Things" CBC website to watch online, and don't miss the video clip of a black-footed ferret happy dance. All of us who know and love our domesticated ferrets are familiar with this joyful little dance, and it made me laugh out loud to see their wild cousins dancing, too.

In a related story, the Canadian Wildlife Service and Park Canada set up motion activated cameras in the Grasslands National Park in November 2009. The original purpose was to see when the burrowing owls returned, so staff were surprised when black-footed ferrets showed up too. The next summer, Calgary Zoo staff used the same remote cameras to count prairie dogs and once again captured images of black-footed ferrets. Visit the CBC's Documentaries web page to see clips of the black-footed ferrets and other wildlife.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

Ferrets vs Logan County - Ferrets win thanks to Larry Haverfield

Thank you, Mr. Haverfield!

The state judge ruled against Logan County, which sought to exterminate the prairie dog population on a private 10,000-acre ranch. Poisoning off the prairie dogs, which are the favorite prey of the black-footed ferret population that was reintroduced to the ranch in 2007, would have been a death sentence to the ferrets.


Ninety-eight percent of the prairie dog population of the Great Plains has been wiped out, and the remaining 2 percent are still subject to the “kill them all” statute put into play in 1901, when a pre-conservation mindset saw the near extermination of the state’s whitetail and mule deer, wild turkeys, bison, pronghorn elk and prairie dogs.

This article raises some additional questions for me too, though:

The ranchers’ legal battles started in 2008 when they refused to allow Logan County exterminators to poison the prairie dogs on their property. A district judge recognized that the FSW had defined the ranch as a promising site for reintroduction of black-footed ferrets and slapped the county with a restraining order.

Logan County tried to repeal that ruling, but on Sept. 20 Judge Jack Lively ruled that the restraining order would stand. The Haverfield-Barnhardt ranch and the 90-feet vegetative boundary that surrounds it are permanently off-limits to poisoning.

Why was Logan County attempting to apply poison to Mr. Haverfield's privately owned land? As I see it, Mr. Haverfield not only stood up for the black-footed ferrets, he stood up for private land rights and against putting poison into our habitats.

Ferrets, LED lighting and Wind Cave National Park - Oh My!

It is not often that I can write about two of my favorite subjects in one blog post, but Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota allows me to do just that.

Wind Cave was the first cave in the world to be designated as a national park. Opened in 1903 it is currently the fourth longest cave in the world, and explorers are still discovering new passage ways. The cave system is also known for its “boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. ”

On July 4th, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service employees reintroduced black-footed ferrets to a small prairie section of the 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine forest that make up the above ground area of the national park. At the time, acting superintendent Rick Mossman was quoted as saying, “It has been thirty years since the last sighting of a black-footed ferret in Wind Cave National Park. We hope this is the start of a self sustaining population that will restore a missing link to our mixed-grass prairie ecosystem.”

A year later, park superintendent Vidal Davila reported fourteen kits were counted in the primary reintroduction areas during four nights of surveying. And last year, park rangers began offering summer night hikes to educate visitors and, if they are lucky, so they can see the Black-Footed Ferrets in the wild.

And in June of this year, the park replaced the cave’s incandescent lighting system with LEDs. The $2 million project was paid for entirely from park ticket sales. It is expected to reduce the lighting bill by about 80% and helps cut back on the algae growth generated by the heat of the old incandescent lights. As an added bonus the LEDs highlight the true colors inside the cave.



For more information about Wind Cave National Park, visit http://www.nps.gov/wica/

Have Prairie Dog, Will Travel

The Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming is the site of a new recovery habitat for North America’s most endangered mammal, the Black-Footed Ferret. But before any ferrets can be introduced, conservationists need to ensure that the eco-system will support them. To do that, the U.S. Forest Service began relocating black-tailed prairie dogs to the area in July and continuing through August.

The black-tailed prairie dogs have long been considered pests to ranchers, making them the target of mass poisonings and sport shooting. Consequently, prairie dog populations plummeted which in turn caused a decline in species that eat them, especially the black-footed ferret.

So now a team of federal agencies and conservation organizations including the U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund, and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance are relocating prairie dogs from two sites considered too close to private land to the Thunder Basin National Grassland area. This prairie dog relocation effort is the first of its kind on U.S. Forest Service land, and Forest Service agents hope to reintroduce the black-footed ferrets as soon as 2011.

Black-Footed Ferret Populations Increasing in the AVEPA

Did you know that black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes), one of North America’s most endangered mammals, was once so elusive they were thought to have never existed?

In 1851, naturalist John James Audubon first described black-footed ferrets from a single specimen. For the next 25 years no other specimens were found, nor were there any other sightings in the wild. Even the original specimen disappeared leading to speculation that no such animal had ever existed!

Luckily Dr. Elliot Coues was able to document additional specimens in 1874. They disappeared again in 1974 and were feared to be extinct. In 1981 a small group were discovered in Wyoming, then nearly wiped out by canine distemper just a few years later.

But black-footed ferrets are coming back from the brink of extinction… again! And Arizona’s Game and Fish Department is an important part of that effort. Arizona’s reintroduction effort is helping to establish a free-ranging, self-sustaining population of black-footed ferrets in the Aubrey Valley Experimental Population Area (AVEPA), with a second ferret reintroduction site planned. Last month’s count shows record gains in AVEPA’s black-footed ferret population.

Game and Fish personnel along with a record 103 volunteers (including 61 in one night) worked from dusk to dawn from March 25-29 spotlighting for the nocturnal black-footed ferret.

“It’s exciting news,” said Jeff Corcoran, supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s black-footed ferret recovery effort in Seligman. “The results and the interest level provide hope for the continued success in the recovery of this endangered animal.”

The crew had 54 captures overall (42 individual ferrets with 12 being captured more than once), and 17 were captured in one night. All established new highs for the project. Of the 42 individuals, 29 had never before been trapped.

“We’ve never caught that many ferrets before, and we did so before this year’s breeding and reproduction,” Corcoran said.

A total of 60 never previously captured wild-born ferrets, were trapped in two spotlighting efforts in 2009.

“I’m excited about the numbers,” Corcoran said. “You think about this one spotlighting effort and compare it to where the ferrets once were and you can’t help but be pleased.”

According to BlackFootedFerret.org:

The 1988 Recovery Plan for the black-footed ferret calls for the establishment of 10 or more separate, free-ranging wild populations. By the year 2010, biologists hope to have 1500 ferrets established in the wild, with no fewer than 30 breeding adults in each population. If these objectives are met, the ferret could be downlisted from endangered to threatened status.

The fall spotlighting in the AVEPA will take place in October. If you are interested in volunteering, contact the black-footed ferret field station at azferret@azgfd.govto receive more information. And be sure to write to me about your experience!

Search Amazon.com for black-footed ferrets

Adopt a Ferret

Did you know that the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is the only species of ferret native to North America? Our domesticated ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) come from Europe. Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct until a Wyoming farmer found one in 1981. The species remains one of the most endangered mammals in North America, second only to the Florida panther. That it is no longer the most endangered mammal is in large part thanks to the work being done by the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program. The captive breeding program began in October of 1985, and nearly failed when all of the captive animals died of canine distemper. The program struggled along with increasing success for the next 10 years. Then (from their web site)...

"The Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team (BFFRIT) was created in 1996 to more effectively integrate the expertise and resources of various parties contributing to the recovery of the black-footed ferret. The BFFRIT is a multi-agency/ conservation organization effort, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which includes representatives from federal and state governments, zoos, and nonprofit organizations. The team was created pursuant to Section 4(f)(2) of the amended Endangered Species Act which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to procure the services of appropriate public and private agencies, institutions, and other qualified persons to help implement endangered species recovery plans. The goal of the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Plan is to establish 10 or more widely separated, self-sustaining, wild black-footed ferret populations in order to consider downlisting of the species to "threatened" status. Although the role of the BFFRIT is strictly advisory in nature, the team assists in the development of national guidance, provides recommendations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the appropriate conduct, methods, and priorities for ferret recovery efforts, and reviews any future revision or update of the black-footed ferret recovery plan."

As part of the BFFRIT's fund-raising and public education efforts, and in cooperation with the Prairie Wildlife Research organization, we can adopt a Black-Footed Ferret of our own for just $25. The money goes towards purchasing vaccines, supplies and equipment needed for the captive breeding and reintroduction program. You will receive a Certificate of Adoption; a biography, color photograph and updates about your adopted black-footed ferret and species recovery; and a magnet with species information.

This brings new meaning to BFF, doesn't it?

Black-Footed Ferrets in Steamy Sex Scandal

It's all over the internet... Romance novelist Cassie Edwards used entire passages from Paul Tolme's article in her book, Shadow Bear. Reading Paul's article about the incident in Newsweek had me laughing out loud.

"They are so named because of their dark legs," Shadow Bear says, to which Shiona responds: "They are so small, surely weighing only about two pounds and measuring two feet from tip to tail."

Shiona then tells Shadow Bear how she once read about ferrets in a book she took from the study of her father. "I discovered they are related to minks and otters. It is said their closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats," she says. "Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska, to establish the New World population."

I know that the language in romance novels can be often be stilted, but a pioneer woman talking about "Researchers theorize" and the Bering land bridge and "the New World" was just too funny.

That said, I'm glad she did it. Had she not, I might not have discovered Paul Tolme's articles, and that would have been unfortunate indeed. In addition to "Toughing It Out in the Badlands", which provided that scintillating post-coital conversation in "Shadow Bear", I highly recommend "Pure Poison" about proposals to kill thousands of prarie dogs in South Dakota. As any ferret fan knows, those endangered prarie dogs are vitally important to the survival of the black-footed ferret, the only native species of ferret we have.

In future entries, I will be writing more about this situation, as well as discussing the importance of the very same prarie lands these animals live on to our ecological well-being. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy Paul Tolme's articles as much as I have, and be sure to visit his web site for even more great articles.