Prairie dogsFrom:Helen Howe Braider
To:OSBT-Web
Subject:Prairie dogs
Date:Tuesday, July 11, 2023 5:53:10 PM
External Sender
ToOpen Space Board members,
I have been boarding my horses at Boulder Valley Ranch for nearly 30 years. It is a rare treasure in our
community, a working ranch just a few miles from downtown Boulder where you can see calves cavorting in the
pasture, haying and baling hay, cows being moved from one pasture to another by people on horseback. It also
has a wonderful cross section of ordinary people who love horses, with Mexicans who do Mexican rodeo, some
who do such things as barrel racing and many who just do trail riding. We are not an elite group.
But the ranch has been seriously endangered by neglect by the city for many years and a poor decision by the city
council many years ago to protect prairie dogs no matter where they were. A farm or ranch cannot function with
prairie dogs around. Their holes are hazards, their mounds prevent plowing, they strip the grasses and then resort
to the roots, leaving the ground stripped bare so that when the winds blow, the top soil blows away. If you go to
the Hidden Valley, particularly the eastern edge south of the Mesa reservoir, you will see the result of prairie dog
devastation. The soil is gone and there is little but pebbles and grit. As for the pastures at Boulder Valley ranch,
they are overrun with Canadian thistle, bull thistle and bindweed. Open Space has recently been trying to
revegetate 2 pastures, but it is a losing battle with the prairie dogs still there. The prairie dogs just move back in or
move over to the hay field and strip that. Unfortunately there are not enough predators to help out. If the prairie
dogs were in a natural setting, their numbers would be kept down by hawks, bobcats, coyotes, and ferrets. But this
is not a natural setting and they are grossly overpopulating small areas. Any irrigated field
Is too rich an environment for prairie dogs so they breed way too successfully.
You have a difficult decision to make, but I strongly urge you to move firmly to control this problem as Boulder
County has done. They have a clear eyed vision of the pluses and minuses of prairie dog management. Please
follow their example.
Helen Braider
1200 Sumac Ave
Boulder
helenhowebraider@gmail.com