Black-footed ferrets could inhabit northwestern
Colorado’s Moffat County and Utah’s Uintah County as soon as this
fall, if a federal proposal wins approval. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service chose each county because it had public lands
populated by plenty of prairie dogs, the preferred prey of ferrets.
Ferrets would be released into the Little Snake and Book Cliffs
areas, which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as a
non-essential experimental population. The category was created by
a 1982 amendment to the Endangered Species Act to make sharing
public land with a restored species more acceptable to other users.
Harming or killing the animals, for example, while discouraged,
would be permitted in some circumstances. The plan emerged after
seven years of collaboration among federal agencies, local
governments, mining and oil and gas industries, recreationists,
ranchers and the Ute Indian tribe. So far, resistance has been
slight. Some neighboring ranchers, however, worry that ferret
reintroduction will lead to restrictions on their use of the land.
Says Bob Leachman, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife agency, “It
was obvious we would not get the public support we needed without
the special designation.” For information on the six public
hearings scheduled in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming this June, or to
send written comments by June 30, write to Field Supervisor, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 25486, Denver, CO 80225 in
Colorado, or 145 East 1300 South, Suite 404, Salt Lake City, UT
84115.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Free-range ferrets.
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