Please be sure to view the extensive photo gallery (with descriptions under photos) at the end of this report.

We are hoping that the experience and information obtained will help to encourage and/or prove useful to other landowners and managers who want to establish new and/or maintain existing prairie dog colonies—and also benefit many of the associated wildlife species (including Burrowing Owls, Swift Foxes, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles and Ornate Box Turtles). In particular, success with fencing may prove useful for landowners who want to include it along with other techniques, such as vegetative barriers, to discourage dispersal from existing prairie dog colonies to adjacent areas where they are not wanted.  

Click here to read the full article and view the photo gallery on audubonofkansas.org

Major conservation initiatives have been implemented on the property during the past few years.  Participants on the tour will have an opportunity to view the ecological benefits of several practices employed.

Control of invasive cedars on native rangelands has resulted in the most dramatic transformations of the property.  In addition to expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars to mechanically shear cedars on most of the upland grassland, prescribed burning has been utilized in each of the last two years to eliminate thousands of small cedar seedlings over the landscape and scorch many of the larger cedars on steep slopes and in dense groves.  Native prairie plant communities have quickly responded to the combination of mechanical removal and controlled burning, improving the land for both livestock and many species of wildlife.

New fences have been built to reduce livestock trampling impact on some sections of the spring-fed streams (Willow Creek and Rock Creek) to improve water quality and both aquatic and riparian habitat for fish and other associated wildlife.  These were built in conjunction with a new watering system that delivers water to livestock tanks on upland areas of the pastures.  As an additional measure, wildlife escape ladders were installed in all tanks to provide greater access and safety.  Prairie Grouse and other birds require considerably more water during the egg-laying season, and during hot dry periods.  Livestock stocking rates have also been adjusted to modest rates to benefit grassland birds and improve “rangeland health.”

Nearly 200 acres of special nesting and brood-rearing habitat for grassland birds has been established on old field sites, along with twenty acres of pollinator habitat for native pollinating insects.

Cedar thinning and other forest stand improvement practices are being implemented within hardwood woodlands within and along the Niobrara River valley.  A primary objective is to restore the native woodlands of bur oak, basswood, ironwood and other deciduous species.  In some areas an additional objective is to diminish the density of eastern red cedar and retain those with greatest potential for future harvest as saw logs.  Cedar posts and poles are being harvested as part of the forest stand improvement practice.

The first tour scheduled from 7 to 9:30 a.m. will be a birding/wildlife and wildflower viewing tour within the sanctuary, designed to highlight grassland nesting birds and strategies for management of habitat requirements.  Grassland nesting birds of special interest on the sanctuary include Sharp-tailed Grouse, Upland Sandpipers, Bobolinks, Long-billed Curlews, Western Meadowlarks, Dickcissels, Bobwhite Quail and native “song” sparrows including Grasshopper Sparrows and Lark Sparrows.

Opportunities to see woodland birds will be included when the tour stops near the Hutton childhood homestead in a scenic oak grove on the edge of the river valley. Ovenbirds and Yellow-breasted Chats utilize the woodland and riparian habitats, but both are secretive and more often heard than seen.  Remarkably, in May a pair of Sandhill Cranes have been inhabiting the bottomland wet meadows and wetlands on the sanctuary.  Activities in that area are currently restricted to minimized disturbance.  They may be members of the Greater Sandhill Crane population (Grus canadensis tabida) that nest in Great Lakes states and the northern Rocky Mountains.  (Most of the Sandhill Cranes that gather along the Platte River each spring are of the Lesser and Canadian subspecies, both of which migrate much greater distances to nesting areas.)

The 9:30 a.m. to noon tour will focus on cedar cutting and prescribed burning, with opportunities to view areas that were burned to control cedar encroachment on grassland sites and into ravines within natural deciduous woodlands comprised mostly of bur oak.  In some areas the results are spectacular.

LUNCH: An informal light lunch consisting of sandwiches and fresh vegetables and fruit will be available between noon and 1:30 p.m. at the Hutton Guesthouse.  Participants who plan to join the group for lunch are requested Sanctuary coordinators know how many in their party will have lunch at the sanctuary.  The e-mail address for confirmation is (aok @ audubonofkansas . org). Information about plans for the visitor gallery, management of the two sanctuary guesthouses for visitation and nature-based experiences for families and others at the sanctuary (including establishment of a trail system for guests), and overarching goals and plans for the sanctuary will be discussed.

A tour from 2 to 5 p.m. will include all elements of the morning combined, and possibly extend beyond to additional parts of the sanctuary if conditions allow. Tour limitations may be caused by weather and rain-soaked sanctuary roads or trails.

A 6 p.m. to sunset picnic is planned, and if conditions allow it will be held on a hillside overlooking the river.  Alternatively, it will be held at the Hutton Guesthouse. Participants who plan to join the group for the picnic are requested to call or send an e-mail to let Sanctuary coordinators know how many in their party will attend the picnic.  There is no charge, but donations will be appreciated. The e-mail address to indicate plans to participate in various aspects of the day’s activities is (aok @ audubonofkansas . org) and phone messages can be left at 785-537-4385 until Friday afternoon.

All tours will leave from the Hutton Guesthouse.  One of the easiest routes to it is to drive seven miles north of the town of Newport on Highway 137, then five miles west on 888 Road to an intersection with a stop sign, then north slightly more than a mile.  Additional details on the location and directions are posted on the Niobrara Sanctuary website at www.niobrarasanctuary.org.  Articles on sanctuary conservation initiatives and the guesthouses are featured in pages 24 to 33 in PRAIRIE WINGS magazine at http://www.prairiewingsmagazine.org.  Additional information on Audubon of Kansas is posted on www.audubonofkansas.org.

Photo Courtesy of Lana Micheel

We believe that positive conservation, research and management programs should be implemented for Mountain Lions in Nebraska, Kansas and other Great Plains states.

On behalf of the Niobrara Sanctuary (as Manager), our Great Plains Conservation Partnership Program, and Audubon of Kansas, Ron Klataske presented testimony on LB 928 during the hearing conducted by the Natural Resources Committee of the Nebraska Legislature on Thursday afternoon February 2, 2012.

Click HERE to read Ron Klataske’s full statement. 

At least one Mountain Lion has been periodically present on the Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary and the immediate vicinity since May of 2010 when it was first captured on a trail camera maintained by Lana Micheel on adjacent property. Tracks, sightings and additional camera views have recorded the presence periodically and as recently as this past month in mid January.

Although LB 928 would authorize the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) to establish hunting permits for Mountain Lions, the most important aspect of the legislation is that it would give these native cats a status with greater recognition and allow NGPC to devote resources for research and management of the species. As the bill states, “Any money derived from the sale of permits by auction shall be used only for perpetuation and management of mountain lions.”  We believe the other funds generated from applications for a permit selected with a raffle should go to that purpose as well.

At present, Mountain Lions are protected in Nebraska, but they are often needlessly killed: illegally killed and not recognized as a valuable part of the state’s wildlife heritage, or shot by various “officials” because they venture into and cannot find their way out of developed areas or because they take refuge near a rural farmstead or town.

The status quo is conceivably more of a threat to the species than purposeful management and very limited hunting.

They are very much like “a man without a country in a no-man’s-land” in Nebraska and in even greater limbo in many other states. Without upgraded recognition they are in constant risk of being classified by legislative measures that would declare them as an animal that can be shot on sight by anyone.

This fact was clearly illustrated by a regressive bill recently introduced in Missouri, a state that is otherwise often noteworthy for progressive conservation programs. On the same day as the hearing in Nebraska,Republican State Senator Bill Stouffer of Napton, Missouri introduced a bill (SB 738) that would allow any person to kill a Mountain Lion (for any purpose) in the state.

A similar eradication bill was introduced a couple years ago in Kansas; it was fortunately tabled.Mountain Lions are apparently not protected at all in Iowa, where a number have been killed-needlessly in our opinion–in recent years. One was shot out of a tree by a deer hunter, and another was tried by a dog in a rural backyard and shot by law enforcement officers who expressed a degree of reluctance after killing the magnificent young animal.

Senator Louden said at the close of the hearing in Lincoln that he knows of numerous Mountain Lions that have been shot in the area of his ranch in northwestern Nebraska and in another vicinity. He suggested the killing has been done under the approach of “shoot, shovel and shut up.”

The South Dakota Legislature has bills pending (HB 1081 and HB 1082) that would essentially authorize this approach, gut regulated Mountain Lion hunting observed by ethical sportsmen, tie the hands of the state wildlife agency, and make those provisions retroactive to December 8, 2010 so that a person charged with a specific violation would be able to “walk away” after disregarding laws and regulations.

Audubon of Kansas has information on two Mountain Lions that were killed during the past ten years in Kansas that were never officially acknowledged. A separate violation resulted in the arrest and confiscation of a lion at a taxidermy shop. If poaching of other wildlife (deer, elk, etc.) is any indication, many more are likely killed that are never disclosed or investigated in the central and northern Great Plains.

There are some areas, landscapes with sufficient habitat and prey, in all of the Great Plains and Ozark states where small breeding populations of Mountain Lions could become established, if permitted to do so naturally. And, they can co-exist with farming, ranching and other human activities-as they do now in the Black Hills, Pine Ridge, and Badlands of western North Dakota.

The Nebraska legislation may begin to help to transform the sometimes-condoned culture of criminal behavior (shoot, shovel and shut up) toward a culture of conservation. Though limited, an opportunity for ethical hunting may help to replace inexcusable killing if sportsmen, wildlife enthusiasts (including landowners in both categories) and agency personnel increasingly work as collective stakeholders with an interest in conservation of Mountain Lions.

Two of the most promising instances of partnerships between individuals and wildlife agencies occurred in January.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials released a Mountain Lion that was accidentally caught in a trap in Dawes County in the northwestern part of the state. The trapper who caught the young female, which weighed about 50 pounds and appeared healthy, in a legally set trap called wildlife officers immediately after he discovered it. Tracks in the snow indicated that another youngster and their mother were lingering nearby.

Similarly, a man in Reynolds County in southeastern Missouri caught a young male Mountain Lion in a large cage trap. Conservation agents collected DNA samples and released the cat into the wild.

The approach outlined by NGPC biologist Sam Wilson is reassuring.

Our qualified support for LB 928 is also based on the fact that at this time we are willing to place confidence in the Nebraska Game and Fish Commission, particularly with the biologists in the wildlife division currently responsible for any Mountain Lion research and management that will be initiated. The testimony of Sam Wilson underscored the agency’s present commitment to properly manage the species.

Recognizing that the population in the Pine Ridge area of northwestern Nebraska may only have a population of twenty Mountain Lions, it is anticipated that only one or two hunting permits will be issued. Biologists estimate that sustainable take of Mountain Lions may only be ten to twenty percent of a population.

However, we also recognize that state wildlife agency Commissions may yield to pressure from various interests that may call for allowance of increasing take beyond the recommendations of biologists, and beyond the sustainability of a population. According to the Mountain Lion Foundation, and the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission has voted to override the recommendations of the agency’s biologists and increase the quota for the kill for three years in a row. The S.D. 2012 hunting season underway now will allow the take of up to 70 Mountain Lions, including up to 50 female lions. With a population around 200, that may be more than twice the kill recommended by biologists. (The season was initiated in 2005.)

Download LB 928 as introduced

The Fiscal Note

News Articles on the Legislative Hearing:

Mountain Lions Should be Managed Through Hunting, Senator Says —  North Platte Bulletin — Christine Scalora (PDF Version)

Pawing Over Idea of Cougar Hunting – Omaha World-Herald — Joe Duggan (PDF Version)

Additional News and Information:

Unintentionally Trapped Mountain Lion Released by Nebraska Game and Parks — 2/10/12– Nebraska City News-Press

Return of the Big Cats — Nebraskaland, December 2009 — Michael Forsberg

Wildlife Species Guide: Mountain Lion — Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

The Discouraging South Dakota Situation: South Dakota Game Commission Disregards Advice From Experts and Raises the 2012 Hunting Quota on Mountain Lions –10/13/11– Mountain Lion Foundation  (PDF Version)

Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia, as mentioned in Klataske’s statement to the Nebraska legislature

Read Prairie Wings Here!

Read the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Prairie Wings, a not-for-profit publication by Audubon of Kansas.

The mission of Audubon of Kansas includes promoting the enjoyment, understanding, protection, and restoration of natural ecosystems. We seek to establish a culture of conservation and an environmental ethic.

Prairie Wings is a publication of Audubon of Kansas, Inc. Additional newsletters and AOK E-News are published periodically. Visit our websiteat www.audubonofkansas.org or find us on facebook. Please consider becoming a member, giving a gift membership, and/or contributing to the vital work of Audubon of Kansas. AOK is an independent grassroots organization that is not administered or funded by the National Audubon Society. All funding is dedicated to our work in the central Great Plains and Prairie states.

Send comments or materials for consideration to any of the following:

Burn crew members overlooking controlled fire, © Ryan Klataske

On March 14^th and 15^th, a team of thirty-eight fire managers and trainers from 10 states and Spain helped to successfully implement a 2,350-acre prescribed burn on the Sanctuary. The Great Plains Fire Learning Network team represented nearly a dozen agencies, organizations, volunteer fire departments and included thirteen fire ecology students from the University of Idaho. While working on the Sanctuary, the entire team stayed at the local Bassett Lodge—a cornerstone of main street Bassett, a town of around 800 people. The adjoining Rangeland Café served hearty breakfasts and opened for evening dinners exclusively for the team. One student proclaimed that the café served the best breakfast she had ever eaten! The photo below, from a front-page article in the Rock County Leader, shows the fire team and some of their equipment stretched out along “main street”.

In addition to restoring grasslands and prairie ecosystems, the Niobrara Sanctuary believes that activities such as this can also help to strengthen rural and small town economies. The Sanctuary regularly employees a number of local residents and hired additional help during the past six months in preparation of the prescribed burn. This recent work included mowing burn lines and cutting hundreds of large cedars, which were then made into fence posts or included in the burn. A photo in the Omaha World Herald shows Jordan Ross of Valentine at work cutting cedars on the Sanctuary to clear flammable trees from the boundary of the planned burn units.

Burn crew members lighting fire, © Ryan Klataske

Fire is an important and natural part of prairie ecosystems and vital in reducing invasive woody plants such as Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). Considerable numbers of small and medium-sized cedars were killed, and in combination with mechanical cutting, significant progress was made toward the restoration of native oak woodlands and other diverse plant communities.

Although prescribed burning—particularly on a large scale—is not yet a commonly accepted practice in the Nebraska Sandhills, we believe that this successful burn and the participation of a team of professionals offers tremendous educational and demonstrational value.

By promoting sustainable ranch management and the complimentary role of fire, we hope that this prescribed burn helps to build public acceptance for the managed use of fire and highlight opportunities for other land managers across the region.

Smoke over the Niobrara River at sunset, © Ryan Klataske

The Niobrara Sanctuary greatly appreciates the assistance and leadership of the Great Plains Fire Learning Network and all of the local community members involved in this important management project.

–Ryan Klataske, Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary

To see media coverage of the project, click on the links below:

10 states, Spain represented at controlled burns, Sandy Benson, Norfolk Daily News, March 19th

Sanctuary to burn invasive cedars, David Hendee, Omaha World-Herald, March 14th

Prescribed burn training to take place, Sandy Benson, Norfolk Daily News, March 10th

Prairie dog pups, © Ronald Klataske

On January 21st, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) approved a permit needed for the relocation of 100 prairie dogs from the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge east of Valentine for the purpose of establishing a prairie dog colony on the Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary. Two newspaper articles noted below report on the approved project:

“Commission approves plan to stock prairie dogs” by Joe Duggan, Lincoln Journal Star

“Prairie dogs to find new home” David Hendee, Omaha World Herald

This project was included as part of a Private Lands Habitat Stewardship grant awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service six years ago, but only now, with the approval of the necessary permit, is it possible for the Niobrara Sanctuary to follow through with this element of the project. In addition to the relocation of prairie dogs, this project also includes extensive removal of cedar trees that have invaded native grasslands, planting of native grasses, legumes and wildflowers on nearly 200 acres of previously cultivated land, as well as wet meadow management enhancement measures.

Burrowing Owl, © Ronald Klataske

Currently, there is only one other small prairie dog colony in the vicinity, located on a neighboring ranch about six miles away. Therefore, we are anticipating that the small colony we hope to establish will help to create nesting and brood habitat for Burrowing Owls, an at-risk species that relies on prairie dog colonies. This project also aims to benefit other imperiled species that depend to a considerable degree on prairie dogs, including Ferruginous Hawks and Golden Eagles.

The small managed prairie dog colony will be located in the Harold ‘Andy’ Andersen Wildlife Habitat Management Area, a 212-acre area in the center of the sanctuary that was once farmed, but is now the site of a prairie restoration project. Recently, 150 acres were planted with a mixture of nearly 30 species of native grasses, legumes and wildflowers to serve as prime habitat for prairie grouse. Twenty acres is managed as a wildlife food plot, and an additional twenty acres will be dedicated to conservation and management of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and associated species.

Ferruginous Hawk, © Ronald Klataske

Additionally, we are also planning to incorporate a variety of research components in the project. We plan to purchase identification microchips for some number of relocated individuals, in order to obtain insight on the sex and age of the prairie dogs that are most successful in surviving and establishing new burrows during the first few months and years. These microchip transponders will also be useful in identifying any prairie dogs that try to venture away from the site.

We are pledged to remove any prairie dogs that travel at any time to any neighboring properties. Success of this demonstration project, from a management standpoint, depends on our ability to prevent the prairie dogs from moving from the site to try to colonize any other locations on the sanctuary or surrounding properties. A variety of factors will combine to diminish the chances that prairie dogs will be able to radiate out to form other colonies, including a fenced enclosure around the initial reintroduction site, vegetative barriers and tall grass on surrounding grassland units within the sanctuary, topography (steep wooded canons, streams and the Niobrara River), surrounding sandy soils too loose for secure burrows, distances to surrounding land, and the presence of numerous natural predators.

Prairie dogs on mound, © Ronald Klataske

We also plan to provide a wildlife viewing blind adjacent to the prairie dog colony to enhance opportunities to monitor the behavior of the prairie dogs and other wildlife, and to provide viewing and photography opportunities for visitors to the sanctuary.

–Ron Klataske
Manager, Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary

Click here to read the statement presented by Ron to NGPC on January 21st, 2011. A much more comprehensive statement and collection of supportive documents were provided to the commission in August 2010, and can accessed here (note: the August statement is a large file–8.9mg, 53 pages).

To read more about other conservation efforts on the Niobrara Sanctuary, click here.

Read more about other conservation efforts on the Niobrara Sanctuary.

To read an editorial about this project from the Lincoln Journal Star, click here.

Click on these links to learn more about wildlife and birdlife on the Sanctuary, including opportunities to see, hear and experience this diversity.

*One region in the Great Plains, however, that does have a notable Mountain Lion population is the Black Hills of South Dakota. It’s important to note that millions of tourists annually visit the Black Hills and join area residents to hike, mountain climb, camp, fish and hunt in the same landscape. Like most wild animals, Mountain Lions prefer to avoid people and they are rarely encountered. This native cat has not caused a human fatality in South Dakota in the past century.

Unless otherwise noted, all images © Ronald Klataske

All images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Unless otherwise noted, all images © Ronald Klataske

All images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Unless otherwise noted, all images © Ronald Klataske

All images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Unless otherwise noted, all images © Ronald Klataske

All images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Gallery under construction, more photos coming soon.