Habitat Harmony, Inc.

Prairie Dog Relocation Project at Flagstaff Mall Expansion Site

2003

First Meeting Between Habitat Harmony and Arizona Game & Fish

November 2002

•We identified the common goal of protecting Gunnison’s prairie dogs.

• Game and Fish needed to locate a suitable release site.

• Habitat Harmony needed to locate a suitable capture site.

Meeting with City of Flagstaff Planning Dept.February 2003

• John Silva, city planner, suggested we draft a Memo.

• We agreed on the Flagstaff Mall expansion site.

• The Memo was forwarded to Westcor, developer of the mall.

FIELD WORK BEGINS – COUNTING BURROWS

April 29, 2003

• The mall expansion site covers almost 100 acres.

• We needed 15 volunteers to count the active burrows.

• It took several days and 135 volunteer hours to count 3,084 burrows.

Plant and Wildlife Survey

•Dr. Randall Scott, botanist and NAU professor, prepared a survey of the plants at the mall expansion site.

•Erika Nowak, wildlife biologist, prepared a survey of the animals.

•Dave and Marcia Lamkin, members of the Northern Arizona Audubon Society, prepared a survey of the birds.

Identifying Family Groups

• 34 family groups were marked off with color coded flags.

Dusting for Fleas

640 traps had to be assembled.

Baiting and Placing the Traps

The bait was a mixture of molasses, cracked corn and sunflower seeds.

The Flag System• Many traps were spread out over a large area.

•The sunflowers and bee bombs made the traps hard to find.

• By flagging every set trap and counting flags as traps were closed, we ensured that all traps were checked.

Gathering the Trapped Prairie Dogs• Traps with Prairie Dogs were covered with burlap.

• Trapped Prairie Dogs were placed under a shady tree and the burlap was sprayed with water.

• Prairie Dogs were counted and loaded into trucks according to family group.

Meeting with the Press

• The Arizona Daily Sun was interested in our project.

• KNAU aired an interview about prairie dogs and the relocation effort.

KNAU

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