White-tailed Prairie Dog
(Cynomys leucurus)
White-tailed Prairie Dog
White-tailed prairie dogs inhabit a small
area in the south-central portion
of Montana, near the Pryor Mountains.
White-tailed prairie dogs inhabit xeric sites
with mixed stands of shrubs and grasses.
Conservation concerns include: conversion
of native rangelands to agriculture
and residential development; disease,
particularly sylvatic plague; and vulnerability
of remaining small and isolated colonies to
extirpation. Conservation strategies include:
instituting a landowner incentive program
and a prairie dog control program designed
to manage prairie dog acreage; assisting in
funding research projects targeting effects
of disease; and translocating white-tailed
prairie dogs from colonies in the path of a
highway project to a formerly occupied site
on BLM land.
