Beyond Borders: World Wildlife Fund’s Transboundary Wildlife Conservation Projects in the Northern Great Plains

The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Northern Great Plains Program (NGP) spans five states and two provinces across 279,000 mi2 of mixed-grass prairie. Since its inception as an ecoregional program in 2003, the WWF NGP has been engaged in numerous multijurisdictional and cross-border initiatives designed to foster communication and coordinate actions to achieve biodiversity conservation in the shared landscapes. From black-footed ferret restoration, long-billed curlew migration, and cougar research to climate change adaptation and conservation economics, we collaborate, financially contribute to, and lead over 50 projects with as many domestic and international partners. One set of partnerships is centered in northern Montana, southwest Saskatchewan, and southeast Alberta focused on conserving crucial habitats and connectivity for pronghorn. This project area is also home to other partnerships WWF participates in, such as the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, Northern Mixed Grass Transboundary Conservation Initiative, and its successor, Crossing the Medicine Line Network. While these initiatives share the common objective of fostering biodiversity conservation across boundaries, there are differences between them involving varied historical and cultural backgrounds, legal, and regulatory regimes. Nature does not recognize county, state, tribal, governmental, or international borders, thus transboundary collaboration is essential to successfully achieving common conservation objectives

Black-Footed Ferret Recovery: Things are Looking Up!

The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is considered one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Hindering the success of recovery efforts is the presence of Sylvatic Plague and a general intolerance of the ferrets primary prey, the prairie dog. To date, the only tools against plague at reintroduction sites have been vaccination of ferrets prior to release, application of pesticides, and translocation of prairie dogs into sites following an epidemic plague event. In addition to the high cost of plague management, ferret recovery is hampered by loss of habitat to sod-busting and development and ESA regulations that make landowners wary of finding or hosting a listed species. However, in recent years, innovative approaches to plague management, prairie dog conservation and ESA regulation have laid a new path for ferret recovery across Western states. These approaches include the following: 1) An MOU signed in 2012 by the USFWS, NRCS, USGS, Wildlife Services, and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies facilitating cooperative conservation efforts with willing landowners to maintain ranch land in prairie habitat and the livestock operations that they support while providing for the conservation and recovery of wildlife species associated with prairie dogs, 2) Development of a safe harbor agreement that would provide regulatory assurances to land owners willing to allow ferret re-introductions, and 3) Development of a sylvatic plague vaccine meant to be dispersed at ferret reintroduction sites. Successful implementation of these new tools could result in ferret recovery within the next decade

Species-Specific Scaling to Define and Conserve the Northern Great Plains Region

Prairie ecosystems are in a continuous state of flux, shifting by processes that include variable weather patterns and climatic conditions, disturbance regimes, and more recently, human-induced modification. Similarly, wildlife resources fluctuate across the landscape as a result of these ever-changing conditions; however, human alterations have increased, removed, and manipulated the ecological processes of the prairie. Specifically, the spatial scales at which humans manage and interact with the landscape are often inconsistent or incompatible with the scales required for the persistence of wildlife populations. Our synthesis demonstrates how the spatial scales at which wildlife in the Northern Great Plains of North America operate have been constrained by human intervention. This process of anthropogenic scaling has affected the decline of many native wildlife populations and in some cases has resulted in the complete extirpation of species from the landscape. We use historical observations and recent quantitative data to describe the primary cause of spatial scale alteration for prairie focal species (i.e. plains bison, pronghorn, grassland birds, Greater Sage-grouse, black-tailed prairie dogs, swift fox, prairie rattlesnakes) using migration, home range, distribution, and dispersal distances as metrics. We then describe the role that spatial scale plays in wildlife management of the prairie landscape from the non-profit, state, and federal perspective and how these entities are managing at the scales of each focal species

Winter movement behavior by swift foxes (Vulpes velox) at the northern edge of their range

Winter can be a limiting time of year for many temperate species, who must access depressed prey resources to meet energetic demands. The swift fox (Vulpes velox Say, 1823) was extirpated from Canada and Montana by 1969 but reintroduced in the 1980s to Canada, and subsequently spread into northern Montana. Swift foxes in this region are at the current northern range edge where winter conditions are harsher and persist longer than in their southern range (i.e. Colorado to Texas). We collected fine-scale locational data from swift foxes fitted with Global Positioning System collars to examine movement and resource use patterns during winter of 2016-2017 in northeastern Montana. Our results suggest that swift foxes displayed three distinct movement patterns (i.e., resting, foraging, and travelling) during the winter. Distance to road decreased relative probability of use by 39-46% per kilometer across all movement states and individuals, whereas the influence of topographic roughness and distance to crop field varied among movement states and individuals. Overall, while our findings are based on data from three individuals, our study suggests that across movement states during the critical winter season, swift foxes are likely using topography and areas near roads to increase their ability to detect predators.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Release method evaluation for swift fox reintroduction at Bad River Ranches in South Dakota

Reintroductions have increasingly become effective at restoring populations of imperiled native wildlife. How animals are reintroduced into unfamiliar environments may have pronounced impacts on behavior, survival, and reproduction. We evaluated the influence of four release methods on survival rates of translocated swift foxes at Bad River Ranches (BRR) in western South Dakota: (1) hard-release, (2) short-soft-release, (3) long-soft-release, an

Release Method Evaluation for Swift Fox Reintroduction at Bad River Ranches in South Dakota

Reintroductions have increasingly become effective at restoring populations of imperiled native wildlife. How animals are reintroduced into unfamiliar environments may have pronounced impacts on behavior, survival, and reproduction. We evaluated the influence of four release methods on survival rates of translocated swift foxes at Bad River Ranches (BRR) in western South Dakota: (1) hard-release, (2) short-soft-release, (3) long-soft-release, and (4) captive born. A total of 179 foxes captured in Wyoming during 2002–2007 and in Colorado during 2006–2007 were released into BRR and the surrounding area. In addition, 43 pups born to foxes in the long-soft-release category were also released. All release methods incorporated a 14- to 21-day quarantine period. Hard-release foxes were released directly from a transport kennel, whereas short-soft-release foxes were released from soft-release pens by opening the door and allowing the foxes to leave voluntarily. Long-soft-release foxes were held for more than 250 days on-site in soft-release pens through the winter and released in the following year in early summer. During 2002–2007, survival of reintroduced foxes differed significantly (p \u3c 0.05) by age (adult vs. juvenile), release year, and release method. The short-soft-release method had the highest 60-day post-release survival probability compared with the other release methods. We did not detect any differences in mortality hazards between wild-born and short-soft-release foxes. Reintroduction programs based on short-soft-releases are useful for restoring or augmenting populations to advance the conservation of the swift fox

RESISTANCE TO DELTAMETHRIN IN PRAIRIE DOG (\u3ci\u3eCYNOMYS LUDOVICIANUS\u3c/i\u3e) FLEAS IN THE FIELD AND IN THE LABORATORY

Sylvatic plague poses a substantial risk to black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) and their obligate predator, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes). The effects of plague on prairie dogs and ferrets are mitigated using a deltamethrin pulicide dust that reduces the spread of plague by killing fleas, the vector for the plague bacterium. In portions of Conata Basin, Buffalo Gap National Grassland, and Badlands National Park, South Dakota, US, 0.05% deltamethrin has been infused into prairie dog burrows on an annual basis since 2005. We aimed to determine if fleas (Oropsylla hirsuta) in portions of the Conata Basin and Badlands National Park have evolved resistance to deltamethrin. We assessed flea prevalence, obtained by combing prairie dogs for fleas, as an indirect measure of resistance. Dusting was ineffective in two colonies treated with deltamethrin for .8 yr; flea prevalence rebounded within 1 mo of dusting. We used a bioassay that exposed fleas to deltamethrin to directly evaluate resistance. Fleas from colonies with .8 yr of exposure to deltamethrin exhibited survival rates that were 15% to 83% higher than fleas from sites that had never been dusted. All fleas were paralyzed or dead after 55 min. After removal from deltamethrin, 30% of fleas from the dusted colonies recovered, compared with 1% of fleas from the not-dusted sites. Thus, deltamethrin paralyzed fleas from colonies with long-term exposure to deltamethrin, but a substantial number of those fleas was resistant and recovered. Flea collections from live-trapped prairie dogs in Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming, US, suggest that, in some cases, fleas might begin to develop a moderate level of resistance to deltamethrin after 5–6 yr of annual treatments. Restoration of black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs will rely on an adaptive, integrative approach to plague management, for instance involving the use of vaccines and rotating applications of insecticidal products with different active ingredients

RESISTANCE TO DELTAMETHRIN IN PRAIRIE DOG (\u3ci\u3eCYNOMYS LUDOVICIANUS\u3c/i\u3e) FLEAS IN THE FIELD AND IN THE LABORATORY

Sylvatic plague poses a substantial risk to black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) and their obligate predator, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes). The effects of plague on prairie dogs and ferrets are mitigated using a deltamethrin pulicide dust that reduces the spread of plague by killing fleas, the vector for the plague bacterium. In portions of Conata Basin, Buffalo Gap National Grassland, and Badlands National Park, South Dakota, US, 0.05% deltamethrin has been infused into prairie dog burrows on an annual basis since 2005. We aimed to determine if fleas (Oropsylla hirsuta) in portions of the Conata Basin and Badlands National Park have evolved resistance to deltamethrin. We assessed flea prevalence, obtained by combing prairie dogs for fleas, as an indirect measure of resistance. Dusting was ineffective in two colonies treated with deltamethrin for .8 yr; flea prevalence rebounded within 1 mo of dusting. We used a bioassay that exposed fleas to deltamethrin to directly evaluate resistance. Fleas from colonies with .8 yr of exposure to deltamethrin exhibited survival rates that were 15% to 83% higher than fleas from sites that had never been dusted. All fleas were paralyzed or dead after 55 min. After removal from deltamethrin, 30% of fleas from the dusted colonies recovered, compared with 1% of fleas from the not-dusted sites. Thus, deltamethrin paralyzed fleas from colonies with long-term exposure to deltamethrin, but a substantial number of those fleas was resistant and recovered. Flea collections from live-trapped prairie dogs in Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming, US, suggest that, in some cases, fleas might begin to develop a moderate level of resistance to deltamethrin after 5–6 yr of annual treatments. Restoration of black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs will rely on an adaptive, integrative approach to plague management, for instance involving the use of vaccines and rotating applications of insecticidal products with different active ingredients