Post by jonsdigs on Jul 6, 2007 7:42:35 GMT -5
Black-footed ferrets return to Wind Cave park
Ranchers fear federal restrictions
By Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal staff
HOT SPRINGS -- Wind Cave National Park officials are celebrating the release this week of seven endangered black-footed ferrets into the 28,000-acre federal preserve.
Biological science technician Barb Muenchau of Wind Cave National Park releases one of seven endangered black-footed ferrets that were reintroduced into the park near Hot Springs on Wednesday. The last time a black-footed ferret was confirmed in the park was 30 years ago. The ferrets released Wednesday were captured in the Conata Basin near Wall. (NPS photo)
"It's been thirty years since the last sighting of a black-footed ferret in Wind Cave National Park," acting park superintendent Rick Mossman said in a prepared statement. "We hope this is the start of a self-sustaining population that will restore a missing link to our mixed-grass ecosystem."
But ranchers who live near Wind Cave fear that the return of the ferrets could bring a tangle of federal restrictions if the ferrets migrate to adjoining private land. Leonard Wood, who ranches west of the park, said Thursday that he was surprised to learn that ferrets had already been released in Wind Cave.
"We thought we had them shut down on that until they did some more work on their impact study," Wood said. "But I guess they're going to do what they're going to do."
Like other ranchers, Wood worries that black-footed ferrets will leave park land and end up on private ranches or even subdivisions nearby, bringing with them headaches for private-property owners.
Park officials say the ferrets are being reintroduced in the park through an experimental permit issued under the federal Endangered Species Act that will prevent those problems. That permit includes mechanisms to assure that private-property interests outside the park won't be affected by the ferrets, official say.
Full Story
Ranchers fear federal restrictions
By Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal staff
HOT SPRINGS -- Wind Cave National Park officials are celebrating the release this week of seven endangered black-footed ferrets into the 28,000-acre federal preserve.
Biological science technician Barb Muenchau of Wind Cave National Park releases one of seven endangered black-footed ferrets that were reintroduced into the park near Hot Springs on Wednesday. The last time a black-footed ferret was confirmed in the park was 30 years ago. The ferrets released Wednesday were captured in the Conata Basin near Wall. (NPS photo)
"It's been thirty years since the last sighting of a black-footed ferret in Wind Cave National Park," acting park superintendent Rick Mossman said in a prepared statement. "We hope this is the start of a self-sustaining population that will restore a missing link to our mixed-grass ecosystem."
But ranchers who live near Wind Cave fear that the return of the ferrets could bring a tangle of federal restrictions if the ferrets migrate to adjoining private land. Leonard Wood, who ranches west of the park, said Thursday that he was surprised to learn that ferrets had already been released in Wind Cave.
"We thought we had them shut down on that until they did some more work on their impact study," Wood said. "But I guess they're going to do what they're going to do."
Like other ranchers, Wood worries that black-footed ferrets will leave park land and end up on private ranches or even subdivisions nearby, bringing with them headaches for private-property owners.
Park officials say the ferrets are being reintroduced in the park through an experimental permit issued under the federal Endangered Species Act that will prevent those problems. That permit includes mechanisms to assure that private-property interests outside the park won't be affected by the ferrets, official say.
Full Story