Free Workshop:

Sunday, 06/28/2019
3 to 5 pm
Classroom, Timberline Firearms and Training
11972 N. US-89, Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Flagstaff is home to Gunnison’s prairie dogs, a species native to grasslands in the Four Corners region.These colonial burrowing ground squirrels are highly beneficial to grasslands and are considered a species of greatest conservation need across its range, but they can be, or perceived to be, incompatible with some land uses.

This workshop is for anyone living in proximity to Gunnison’s prairie dogs interested in learning more about them and how to control their presence on property you own or manage. In this free 2 to 3 hour hands-on workshop, you will learn:

• The value of Gunnison’s prairie dogs
• Cases of mistaken identity
• Prairie dogs' relationship with plague
• Non-lethal methods that work (and don’t) to control their presence

Come prepared to wrap up the workshop with hands on practice outside with Reverse Dispersal Translocation, a DIY passive relocation method that encourages prairie dogs to move themselves from conflict areas without human handling. All participants will leave with a copy of the newly published handbook: A Non-Lethal Management Guide for Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs.

Instructors:

• Emily Renn, Translocation Coordinator/Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Advisor, Habitat Harmony, Inc.
• Tyler Roberts, Reverse Dispersal Translocation Trainer

Contact: 928-202-1325, emily@habitatharmony.org

This is a Habitat Harmony, Inc. project supported by the City of Flagstaff and funded by the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Heritage Fund.

Two Workshop Options:

Flagstaff is home to Gunnison’s prairie dogs, a species native to grasslands in the Four Corners region.These colonial burrowing ground squirrels are highly beneficial to grasslands and are considered a species of greatest conservation need across its range, but they can be, or perceived to be, incompatible with some land uses.

This workshop is for anyone living in proximity to Gunnison’s prairie dogs interested in learning more about them and how to control their presence on property you own or manage. In this free 2 to 3 hour hands-on workshop, you will learn:

• The value of Gunnison’s prairie dogs
• Cases of mistaken identity
• Prairie dogs' relationship with plague
• Non-lethal methods that work (and don’t) to control their presence

Come prepared to wrap up the workshop with hands on practice outside with Reverse Dispersal Translocation, a DIY passive relocation method that encourages prairie dogs to move themselves from conflict areas without human handling. All participants will leave with a copy of the newly published handbook: A Non-Lethal Management Guide for Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs.

Instructors:

• Emily Renn, Translocation Coordinator/Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Advisor, Habitat Harmony, Inc.
• Tyler Roberts, Reverse Dispersal Translocation Trainer

Contact: 928-699-3441, info@habitatharmony.org

This is a Habitat Harmony, Inc. project supported by the City of Flagstaff and funded by the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Heritage Fund.

November 14, 2018
11:30 - 12:30
Physical Science (Building 19), Room 103, Northern Arizona University

Erika M. Nowak, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
School of Earth and Sustainability and Department of Biological Sciences

Collaborative and Student-led Research Assists Snake Conservation

Image courtesy of George Andrejko, Arizona Game and Fish Department

Snake conservation is inherently complicated by ophidiophobia; the fear of snakes. Due in part to the fear of defensive bites and/or envenomation, management of these important predators, particularly venomous species, is often based on human values and perceptions of decreasing snakebite risk, rather than firmly rooted in data on species’ behavior, ecology, and responses to translocation. Dr. Nowak is an expert in rattlesnake management and declining gartersnake conservation. In this presentation, she will provide an overview of her long-term collaborative research in improving management practices for rattlesnakes. She will also summarize current projects at Northern Arizona University examining the distribution, ecology, and captive husbandry of federally-threatened gartersnakes, summarizing the importance of student-led research in aiding species recovery. Throughout the talk, she will focus on the importance of addressing ophidiophobia to improve conservation outcomes for snakes.

Contact Ellie Broadman (ebb42@nau.edu) for more information regarding this seminar.

Habitat Harmony is excited to co-sponsor this year's Flagstaff City Council Candidate Forum. The Forum will be held from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on August 30th at the Coconino Community College Lone Tree Campus (2800 S. Lone Tree Rd.).

The forum will be held in a round-table format where each candidate will visit with a small group of attendees to answer questions as they rotate from table to table. This format provides the opportunity to ask questions of all the candidates that are important to YOU as well as hear the concerns of other citizens in the community.

In addition to the candidates, representatives of the the local ballot initiatives have been invited to meet with people before the Forum starts. If you have questions about the initiatives you will have the opportunity to get answers and learn more, so come early!

Friend's of Flagstaff's Future and all of the many co-sponsors of the event will also be on hand to answer questions and help you get involved in the important work that they are doing in our community. The groups represented this year include: Sierra Club Platinum Group, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Stand Up! for Flagstaff, Habitat Harmony, Keep Flagstaff Together, Flagstaff Freethinkers, Local First Arizona, Repeal Coalition, and NAIC.

The importance of being involved in local issues cannot be understated! Politics in Washington or even the state level can be distant and out of touch while individuals working with their local representatives can create change to make their immediate surroundings more environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically prosperous.

Come to this forum and get involved in your community. We hope to see you on August 30th!

September 21, 2018
1:00-4:00 pm
Merriam-Powell Research Station, Flagstaff, Arizona
(on the grounds of the Arboretum at Flagstaff)

Join Dr. Erika Nowak, venomous reptile researcher, for an in-depth look at venomous reptile behavior, ecology, and hands-on practice handling live snakes!

Program overview: Dr. Nowak will conduct an ~ 1.5 hour interactive presentation using a Powerpoint presentation, handouts, and visual aids (e.g. transmitters, PIT tags, preserved specimens, live snakes) to explain common Arizona venomous reptile identification, ecology, and behavior. She will also discuss appropriate responses when venomous reptiles are found in places where they are not welcomed by humans, how to prevent bites, and care for envenomation victims. This will be followed by a ~ 1 hour demonstration and class participation in supervised handling of non-venomous and venomous snakes, using snake-safe tongs and snake-proof holding containers. The setting for the training is Northern Arizona University’s Merriam-Powell Research Station (Merriam-Powell Research Station), located next to the Arboretum at Flagstaff.

Class Size and Cost: For snake safety, class size is limited to 20 participants. The cost for this training, put on by Erika M. Nowak Herpetological Consulting, is $75/person. Checks can be made out to Erika M. Nowak. Ten percent of class fees will be donated to Habitat Harmony, Inc. (habitat harmony.org) to support their important conservation work.

Contact Dr. Nowak at: snakeladyerika@hotmail.com to reserve your spot. See more about Dr. Nowak’s background and her research with snakes here: NAU News: In it for the Animals

Intended Audience and Justification: This training is aimed at resource managers, park rangers, wildlife managers, law enforcement personnel, field biologists, and others who may be called on to remove a venomous reptile from a dangerous situation. Perhaps over half of the envenomations in the US occur as a result of improper handling, partly as a result of misunderstanding about normal rattlesnake behavior, and partly as a result of improper handling techniques. By discussing data gleaned from field research on wild venomous reptiles and dispelling popular myths before handling training occurs, Dr. Nowak hopes to help participants increase their appreciation for these enigmatic creatures, and begin to conquer fears they may have about venomous reptiles, which in turn will lead to safer handling practices. Take-home handouts will reinforce training concepts, and to provide additional resources for living safely with venomous reptiles. This presentation is based on Dr. Nowak’s 24 years of radio-telemetric and mark-recapture field research on rattlesnakes and gila monsters, conducted primarily in national parks and monuments, with insights from her colleagues.

* Please note that this is not a Habitat Harmony event.
Photo copyright Janet Lynn

By Alexandra Wittenberg

Originally Published Aug. 12, 2018 by AZ Daily Sun | Link to original

Squeak. Chirp. Scree.

Chances are you’ve probably heard the unique warning bark of the Gunnison prairie dog while passing by a shrubby, grassy area around town. These highly social burrowing ground squirrels have 11 distinct barks for a variety of predators. Unfortunately, the prairie dogs don’t yet have a warning call for "300-acre housing development is about to start construction, destroy our habitat and trap us under swaths of cement for eternity."

In Flagstaff, the habitat loss that the prairie dogs face is exacerbated by the town’s seemingly never-ending construction projects. Oftentimes, new buildings are set to be established right on top of the prairie dog’s intricate tunnel-structured homes.

However, there is a light at the end of their tunnels.

By Emery Cowan

Originally Published Jan 24, 2018 by AZ Daily Sun | Link to Original

What if you could easily find out what your dog was barking about? Or what it was thinking when it cocked its head in a certain way? And what if doing so only required pointing a cell phone at your pet and then getting a translation of what it is trying to communicate?

That’s the vision of retired Northern Arizona University biology professor Con Slobodchikoff. After spending decades researching prairie dog communication at NAU, Slobodchikoff has turned his attention in recent years to animal communication and, more specifically, dog communication. His newest project is a dog translation device that could decode a canine's vocalizations, facial expressions and actions and then tell the human user what the dog is trying to say.

By Lynne Nemeth

Originally published August 25, 2017 by AZ Daily Sun | Link to original

My husband and I live in Doney Park, as many of you know, on two and one-half acres with lots of prairie dogs. I'm quite fond of them, and they know who I am — no alarm calls for me! We frequently find them in the barn or the chicken pen feeding on hay, cracked corn or the chickens' pellets. I recently had to rescue a young one who had become trapped among the hay bales. (Yes, I used gloves.)

Right up front, I am stating that I am not worried about getting the plague, my horses are not going to break their legs in prairie dogs holes and prairie dogs have not destroyed any of my plantings (since they graze primarily on grasses).

Originally published Aug. 31, 2016 by AZ Daily Sun | Link to original

Our View: As a keystone species, they can help restore the prairie if they are translocated

They are a keystone species and cute, too.

But they also carry deadly plague and eat a lot of grass.

Those are just some of the reasons prairie dogs are loved or hated – with not much in between. The varmints of the Old West were hunted and poisoned nearly to extinction, while the survivors today can’t be relocated fast enough ahead of development. As we reported recently, Doney Park’s loss is Petrified Forest’s gain – along with the black-footed ferrets that eat them.

By KPNX Staff

Originally Published Aug. 22, 2016 by 12news.com | Link to original

It's the first indoor gun range in Coconino County, but owners Elise and Rob Wilson realized the land they had bought for the range already had plenty of tenants: Prairie dogs.

The colony had set up shop when a retention pond was constructed across the street a few years earlier.

So Elise called Habitat Harmony, which agreed to work with the Arizona Department Game and Fish to capture and relocate as many of the animals as possible before beginning construction.

By Emery Cowan

Originally published Aug. 19, 2018 in AZ Daily Sun | Link to original

Elise Wilson checks on a prairie dog trapped in a cage on a commercial plot of land recently in Timberline. Wilson and her husband Rob are building an indoor shooting range on the land and have been working to relocate the more than 100 prairie dogs that have been living in burrows there.
Jake Bacon/AZ Daily Sun

Working quietly, Elise Wilson squeezed the handle of the hose, sending a stream of soapy water gushing into the prairie dog hole beside her.

Across from her, Emily Renn knelt down, face inches from the dirt and hands hovering just inside the hole’s opening.

Slowly, a mass of bubbles began to rise up like white fluffy lava out of the hole. Both of the women watched closely, hoping that a prairie dog would come scampering out with the suds.

Originally printed in AZ Daily Sun on April 3, 2016 | Link to Original

by EMERY COWAN Sun Staff Reporter

A group of wildlife managers and interested residents crowded along a dirt road through Flying M Ranch on an unseasonably warm Friday last month. The group was there to learn about the prairie dogs that Flying M co-owner Kit Metzger says are starting to overrun her ranch, munching up grass and transforming about 7,000 acres of productive grazing land into an expanse of weeds and bare dirt.

“If they stay there long enough they kill all the grass off, then you get bare ground and all the issues that come with that,” Metzger said. “We can’t seem to change our management in any way to change their effects.”

Dear Commissioner Hickman,

We are writing on behalf of Habitat Harmony, Inc., to encourage you to approve Coconino County’s request to reclassify State Trust lands (Sections 6, 8, 12, 18, and 19) on Observatory Mesa near Flagstaff as suitable for conservation purposes under the Arizona Preserve Initiative Petition 35-116166. Our group supports this reclassification because it fits with our mission of promoting protection of wildlife habitat and open space in northern Arizona. Protecting these particular parcels also helps secure night-time public viewing and future astronomical research opportunities at Lowell Observatory by limiting proximate light pollution.  

The City now has alerts/subscription lists for notification of baiting, etc, on the website. Here's how to register:

Go to: http://flagstaff.az.gov/list.aspx

Up comes a page where you can register for any number of notifications.

One of them is "Rodent Control."

This will let you know in advance of any planned prairie dog poisonings.

At least, now we'll be notified and can choose to act in the way we see fit for our own safety.  We can also act to change things!

On Friday Novemeber 19, 2012, members of the Conservation Study Forum (CSF) joined with members of the Regional Plan's Citizen's Advisory Committee, city and county staff, Game & Fish staff, and a representative of the State Land Department to "Walk the Land".
 
We walked parts of state land parcels 10, 20 and 30 east of Flagstaff referring to maps for natural features.

Habitat Harmony has agreed to be the Steward for the Prairie Dog Colony near the Humane Society in Foxglen Park. This site is part of Arizona Game & Fish’s Arizona Watchable Wildlife Experience. http://www.azwatchwildlife.com/

This 7 ½ acre site is owned by the City of Flagstaff and is just west of the Humane Society. It was the site where Dr. Con Slobodchikoff studied prairie dogs, especially their language, for 13 years. Now it is on the Flagstaff Urban Trail and has interpretative signs that explain the lives and habits of prairie dogs in their prairie ecosystem.

As the Steward of the site, Habitat Harmony will

-Visit the site regularly and report any concerns or damage to the AWWE core planning team

-Share our ideas for improving the site for wildlife habitat and visitor enjoyment

-Help improve the web page description of the site, or add content

-Work to pursue funding to upgrade the site for wildlife habitat and visitor enjoyment

Watch for ways to be a good Steward for the Foxglen Prairie Dog Colony in 2012!

Habitat Harmony, Inc. has previously worked with the city in other locations to develop long-term solutions that allow for Gunnison's prairie dog conservation when trying to solve conflicts with humans on public property. As we have stated previously in meetings with city staff, we do not support poisoning as a solution for dealing with problem prairie dogs, first because it is not a long-term solution to the problem, and second because of lethal effects that poisons have on non-target wildlife (birds and mammals), and possibly on family pets as well.

Mowed ball fields and parks mimic the short-grass prairie habitats that prairie dogs like to live in, and mowing the grass in these areas provides a constant source of tender forage for the prairie dogs to eat, so prairie dogs will continue to try to colonize these habitats. Gunnison's prairie dogs are an important keystone species in our area because they provide food for a variety of predators, their burrows provide shelter for many other animals, and their burrowing and grazing activities have important effects on prairie landscapes.

A letter published in the Sun on August 26th makes three claims about prairie dogs that are easily fact-checked:

1.    Prairie dogs don’t provide food for predators. In checking several sources (Kansas State University, Wikipedia, and the research-based ICWDM), all agree that prairie dogs are prey to a number of raptors and mammals, including the three I have seen hunting them behind Foxglenn Park – golden eagle, red-tailed hawk and coyote. Whether predators are on the writer’s property may have to do with nearby domestic dogs or available roosts.

2.    Burrows provide shelter for other disease-carrying rodents. In a study of 777 burrows, the authors found only three other rodents occupying them – one mouse and two ground squirrels. Many other species do use their burrows, including rabbits, other mammals and various birds.

3.    Ready-made golf course. I have to agree; prairie dogs can be a real nuisance in the wrong places, including under the sidewalks or in the fields of Foxglenn Park. But behind the park, their activity seems to have controlled a dense infestation of knapweed while creating a stunning wildflower display in August. I hope we can continue learning how to live with these creatures!

Bruce Higgins

Prairie dog burrow area

image - Immediately adjacent area without prairie dog burrows

To the editor:

Concerning Habitat Harmony's comments on the poor prairie dog, two out of three comments were correct.

1. False --They provide food for a variety of predators. In the nine years I have lived at my residence, I have yet to see anything try to make them a meal.

2. True -- Their burrows provide shelter for many other animals. Yes, other disease-carrying rodents.

3. True -- Their burrowing and grazing activities have important effects on prairie landscapes. Without lifting a finger, I now have an 18-hole (plus some) golf course on my property.

Golf, anyone?

KEN GOODRICH
Doney Park

Habitat Harmony, Inc., and the City of Flagstaff Parks Department have collaborated by submitting an application for a Heritage Grant to AZ Game & Fish. The subject of the grant is to research and write a handbook on non-lethal management methods for prairie dogs.

Since Habitat Harmony is a 501c3 non-profit, we need a government fiscal sponsor. The City of Flagstaff agreed to be our sponsor. This is an exciting step toward managing prairie dogs rather than exterminating them. This research is called for in the Arizona Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Management Plan.

by AZ Daily Sun Staff - (Flagstaff) When it comes to nuisances that reduce Flagstaff's quality of life, prairie dogs and graffiti each occupy a special niche.

The problem is that eradicating the former comes down to a more difficult choice than the latter -- graffiti, after all, can just be painted over.

But prairie dogs have faces that many people find cute and a persistence that defies nonlethal attempts to remove them.

If they just occupied remote corners of old ranches or even a public right of way beneath a power line, the city could afford a policy of "live and let live."

August 17, 2012 9:05 am  •  CYNDY COLE Sun Staff Reporter

After about a decade of trying other measure, the city of Flagstaff is turning to poison once more to remove prairie dogs from a city park.

The prairie dogs, along with gophers and other rodents, are a concern for their ability to undermine sidewalks, landscaping and utilities, and also for making tunnels in which softball players and children can twist ankles.

The poison used to kill the prairie dogs is also a concern for one city resident living across the street from Foxglenn Park, as she's afraid her service dog could eat it and be sickened or killed.

Upon her request, the city is now sending automated messages warning of "rodent control" activities to anyone who wants them.

Steve Zimmerman is Flagstaff's parks manager, and he watches out for rodents mostly in Foxglenn Park.

"We're just trying, for public safety, to keep the holes off the fields," he said.