Kansas wildlife biologists confirm mountain lion sighting

BY COURTNEY LOONEY
The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks officials said a mountain lion was photographed by a deer hunter northwest of WaKeeney, in Trego County.

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

After more than a century of rumors of mountain lions in Kansas, state wildlife biologists confirmed this week that a live mountain lion has been found in Kansas.

"We have literally dozens and hundreds of mountain lion sightings turned in to us," said Mike Miller, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks spokesman. "Usually the pictures are so blurry, you can't see any detail."

On Oct. 12, a man hunting in northwest WaKeeney in Trego County made not only a discovery, but history, too. The man snapped photos of what this week became the first verified, live mountain lion in Kansas since 1904.

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Prairie dogs possibly help aquifer

BY LAURA BAUER
Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Jeffrey Harsh admits he would try just about anything to save the prairie dog.

Not content to sit and watch counties and landowners across the Plains wipe the land clean of the critters, he wants to do something -- plead the case of the prairie dog, if you will.

His recent plea has some wildlife preservationists nodding their heads in agreement but others chuckling.

The theory -- espoused by others over the years -- is that by burrowing the land above one of the world's largest underground water supplies, prairie dogs loosen the soil and allow rain to seep through and recharge it.

More prairie dogs throughout the Plains would mean more rainwater into the dwindling Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to eight states, including Kansas.

"Prairie dogs can penetrate the zone (of the Ogallala) that rainwater can't do on its own," said Harsh, who owns an animal refuge in western Kansas' Logan County. "People have deemed them as being from the dark side... but, yes, the prairie dog is a major player in allowing the aquifer to be replenished."

Some say that's just a myth, one more effort to save the prairie dogs. Many farmers and ranchers have maintained that the animals cause havoc on their land. Through the years, their population has been significantly scaled back to a fraction of what it was.

The war over the critters has become so fierce it landed in a Logan County courtroom last year. One farmer, Larry Haverfield, understands the need for prairie dogs and wants them on his land. But when other farmers complained, the county intervened and did what state law allows counties to do: lay poison when landowners won't.

But as for that theory about the water supply? "Help recharge the (Ogallala) aquifer?" Joel Schneekloth, a regional water resource specialist with the Colorado State University extension, said with a laugh. "I've heard a lot of wild, goofy ideas, and this is one of them."

Schneekloth says there's no scientific evidence that one of cattle ranchers' worst nightmares could be a water-supply blessing. As Schneekloth put it: "In our business, we have to go with science and what you can prove."

OK, Harsh and some wildlife preservationists said, then do some analysis. See whether it's true. And do it soon.

"Do it before it's too late, before they're all gone," Harsh said. "My goal is to lighten up on the poor critters. they are being obliterated."

Rare Ferrets Thriving

Rare ferrets seem to thrive
BY BECCY TANNER AND TRAVIS HEYING
The Wichita Eagle

Love blossomed on the Kansas prairie this spring and summer.

Some of the 24 rare black-footed ferrets reintroduced to western Kansas last December survived -- and at least four reproduced, wildlife volunteers confirmed after attempting to count the ferrets last week.

"The results have been superb," said Ron Klataske, executive director of Audubon of Kansas. The exact count is unknown. Klataske is hopeful that a third to half of the ferrets released in December survived.

The newest residents of Logan County are grouchy and reclusive. They can be spotted only briefly at night and are often tricky enough to avoid human contact.

But Thursday night, volunteers finally captured one of the ferret young. They checked his health, gave him a microchip and released him.

"He was chattering at us and barking at us. He was feisty," said Samantha Wisely, assistant biology professor at Kansas State University. "The moms are more mellow. They were captive raised and have seen people before. It was really nice to see a wild-born acting up and not wanting to be around people. He was doing his thing."

That's the best officials could have hoped for.

The young ferret is probably from the first litter of ferrets born in Kansas in more than 50 years.

Black-footed ferrets were believed to be extinct, until a small colony was found near Meeteetse, Wyo., in 1981. A successful captive breeding program has led to the reintroduction of the endangered species in several Plains states.

Federal wildlife officials hope to establish 10 self-sustaining populations across the nation by 2010, with 1,500 breeding adult ferrets. They plan to release an additional 30 ferrets on the same Logan County land in October.

Wildlife experts checked in on the ferrets last week to see how they were getting along.
All week long, beams of light scanned western Kansas cattle pastures like floodlights searching a prison yard.

The ferrets live in prairie dog holes and prey on prairie dogs. "Their eyes will be bright green," Klataske said. "Almost teal, really, and brighter than any other eyes you'll see out here." Wednesday night, volunteers like Klataske had little luck.

Klataske figured his best chance was to return to a prairie dog hole where a ferret had been seen the previous night. Much to his surprise, the hole had been filled in by prairie dogs attempting to entomb the small predator before it got to them.

Klataske dug out the hole, planted a trap, and hoped for the best, knowing it was unlikely the ferret would emerge from the same hole and into his trap.

The traps were checked hourly. In the meantime, Klataske continued searching the landscape for the bright green eyes. There was no shortage of jackrabbits, coyotes, deer and even a burrowing owl. But no ferrets.

Finally, at 5:30 a.m., Klataske's searchlights revealed what looked like two bright emeralds.
"It's a ferret!" he exclaimed. "And he's in the trap."

The ferret was a male. A microchip confirmed that it was one of the original 24 released last December. The ferret was sedated while biologists and veterinarians looked it over for ticks and parasites, vaccinated it and judged how it had been doing. All indications were that the animal was thriving.

Two hours after its capture, the ferret was taken back to the hole in a pet carrier and released. After a quick look around, it scurried into the hole.

Male prairie chickens' stint alone on the range is over

Right: "booming" male prairie chicken

BY BILL GRAHAM
Kansas City Star

Eight lonesome male prairie chickens transplanted from Kansas to Missouri got some female company last week.

The native fowl are endangered in Missouri, and biologists are trying to re-establish a flock on the Wah'Kon-Tah Prairie near El Dorado Springs, Mo.

So in April, crews trapped prairie chickens at ranches in the Salina area and attached radio transmitters to them so they could be tracked.

Males were moved to Wah'Kon-Tah. But the females were left on their home range to raise chicks.

Then this month, crews trapped 52 more Kansas birds, hens and chicks, and moved them to Wah'Kon-Tah, said Max Alleger, a biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The last batch was released Tuesday. Research crews began tracking them Friday.

"We're trying to get a better idea of what kind of places they travel and feed in," Alleger said, "so we can put more of that habitat out there."

Prairie chickens grew scarce in Missouri as grasslands were converted to agriculture. Fewer than 500 native birds remain of what were once thousands.

Transplanting the ground-dwelling, grassland birds is one part of a broader recovery effort, Alleger said. Habitat improvement, especially on private lands, will be the biggest factor in saving them.

And if the effort succeeds at Wah'Kon-Tah, similar transplants could be done at other areas where prairie ecosystem improvements are taking root.

Wah'Kon-Tah is in the middle of a 5,000-acre mix of public and private land devoted to native grassland.

Alleger said he expects more transplants in coming years, and he hopes to see a growing flock by 2010, when the first chicks hatched are old enough to mate.

"That's going to be the time that we can see whether the birds are staying," he said.

Some males turned loose in April wandered to other prairies in the area, and some were tracked via their radio collars to sites more than 30 miles away.

One male traveled more than 80 miles round-trip from Wah'Kon-Tah to north of Fort Scott.

"We think having the females there now will keep them around better," Alleger said.

Left: "fighting cocks"

Update on the Honeybee Crisis

USDA AWARDS $4.1 MILLION TO STUDY COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER

USDA.gov, July 17, 2008

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced today that more than $4 million will be awarded to the University of Georgia to study the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other diseases affecting bee populations, whose pollination is valued at $15 billion annually to U.S. agriculture.

"Bees are an extremely valuable contributor to the overall productivity of American agriculture, but invasive pests, diseases and environmental stresses are putting U.S. bees at serious risk," Schafer said.

"This research will help beekeepers meet the pollination demand for the nation's food supply."
Decline of the honeybee causes worryUCD researchers search for cause of mysterious honeybee disappearance

The California Aggie, July 17, 2008

In many of the colonies, all the adult bees abandon the hive and leave behind the queen bee and a handful of very young bees, said Eric Mussen, apiculturist for the department of entomology. Colony Collapse Disorder is used to describe this phase among the honeybees, which takes place over a short period of a few days to a few weeks.The causes behind CCD are unknown to researchers.

Honey bee becoming endangered species

The Northern-Times.co.uk, July 17, 2008

EAST Sutherland Beekeepers emerged from last winter to some very nasty discoveries.
Early checks for signs of life and activity in beehives were not encouraging and when at last the weather allowed them to open up the hives it was even worse than anticipated. Many beekeepers found that their colonies were dead or on their last legs.

Kansas a longtime haven for chickens

Michael PEARCE
The Wichita Eagle
4/20/2008

Kansas has long been a stronghold for two of four original species of American prairie chickens.

• Greater prairie chickens:
For most of the 20th century it was said the Flint Hills held more of these than all states combined. Loss of habitat has greatly reduced the Flint Hills population but numbers have grown substantially in the Smoky Hills of north-central Kansas over the past 30 years.

• Lesser prairie chickens:
The Dust Bowl drought almost forced these birds into extinction across a range that includes Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
They recovered, but began to decline again in the 1980s, when huge amounts of sand-sage prairie were put into agricultural crops, heavily Above:booming cocks. grazed or tainted by signs of civilization.

Groups petitioned in some states to have them added to the threatened or endangered species lists. That did not happen.

Only in Kansas are the birds holding their own or improving their range and numbers. Right: booming cocks, mating season.

The CRP, a federal program that pays farmers for long-term plantings of prairie grasses where crops were once raised, is credited for an expansion of the Kansas population from southwest into west-central and northwest Kansas. That could change, parks officials say, if changes in federal policy result in a loss of CRP land.

• Heath hens:
The pilgrims probably ate more of these than wild turkeys at their first Thanksgiving.
The birds were abundant in grasslands from New Hampshire to Virginia until loss of habitat and over-hunting eliminated them from the mainland by 1870.

They thrived on Martha's Vineyard into the 1920s, when inbreeding, disease and a fire during breeding season took their toll. "Booming Bob," the last of the species, danced his last dance on a breeding ground in 1932.

• Attwater's prairie chickens:
These birds numbered around 1 million about a century ago on the coastal prairies of Louisiana and Texas. But lost habitat took a toll. They were one of the first species placed under the Endangered Species Act in the 1960s. Their numbers plummeted to less than 50 in the 1990s.

Texas and federal biologists and conservation groups are working to re-establish habitat and populations on private and public ground. The population now is approaching 300.