Around here, people think prairie dogs are terrible pests. Ranchers say: if we called them prairie rats instead of prairie dogs, city people wouldn’t think they were so cute. Which seems like a silly thing to say, because prairie dogs are objectively very cute and don’t have naked tails.
If the people who’d like to remove prairie dogs from the landscape could only see underground, they’d feel differently. If ranchers had x-ray vision, they’d love prairie dogs, because prairie dogs change the pathways water takes through the land. (RDennis, this post’s for you.)
When rain falls on grasslands, most of the water that falls moves back into the air through evaporation. Rain that falls on vegetation will likely evaporate. Some of the water runs overground as run-off, which will possibly join a stream or more likely evaporate. Of the water that soaks into the soil, nearly all of it is taken up by the root systems of grasses and transpired back into the air. As a rule, rain that falls on the grasslands does not soak down to the groundwater, where it could replenish local springs and streams. Unless it falls on a prairie dog town.
The soils in prairie dog towns are moister than the soils in the surrounding grasslands, and higher in organic matter. This may account for the increased populations of tunneling insects and worms that honeycomb the soil profile in a prairie dog town. Macropores are tunnels with a diameter greater than 1 millimeter, and they promote the rapid transport of water through the soil. The macropores in a prairie dog town allow rainfall that would have been lost to evaporation or run-off to trickle down to the groundwater and replenish the local vegetation.
Flury, M., and H. Flühler. 1995. Tracer characteristics of brilliant blue FCF. Soil Science Society of
Here we have a photo (properly attributed, no less) that shows grasslands soil where dyed water was poured on the surface, and then the cross section was excavated. We can see that there’s no zone of saturation moving down from the surface, like we were taught in Hydrology. Instead, the water runs down holes build by animals, worms and beetles, and through channels left by decayed roots.
By allowing prairie dogs to tunnel the grasslands, you change the pathways water takes through the land. Instead of rain disappearing through evaporation, transpiration and run-off, it settles deeply into the land where it can do some good.
If ranchers had x-ray vision, we’d see less of this
and more of this
(Prairie Dog Rapture by Anthony Falbo)
Thanks for thinking of me.
We have many other species of dirt movers who do as good or better of a job of turning the soil and getting the little moisture we receive down into the ground water. Moles, ground squirrels, pocket gophers and such.
I think much of what you posted is old, out of date info.
Just west of my ranch is an area that is known as the “gumbo”. Very dense clay soils. Water doesn’t soak in like it does here in the sandy gravely soil. In the early years of this country, 1900 to 1920’s, this was a huge prairie dog town.Then the governemnt poisoned the whole area. If you try to dig a well to fing ground water you have to dig 3500 feet deep and may not find any.
In our area with little to no praire dogs, you can finds poor surface water at about 5 to 12 feet, depending on the part of the dry wet cycle we are in. And good water at 60 to 80 feet.
No, I disagree with the theory you have posted.
Prairie dogs are good for predators to eat, tho they will never kill them all off. Nor will mankind. Until we blow thew whole earth up. If you want them, fine, but please don’t tell me I must have them.
Those who advocate we keep all animals have no right to kill any. No mice, no bugs, no rats, no nothing. Face it, we all kill to survive. Always have, always will.
RDennis wrote”I think much of what you posted is old, out of date info.” Au contraire, this is up-to-the-minute. Short circuit bypass flow through macropores was first pictured in the 1990s and is still not included in most analyses of water movement.
Okay Alice, explain why it didn’t work in this area in the dense clay soils. Like down in the Badlands National Monument.
I am sure there are benefits to all living creatures. Even flies and mosquito’s. Bet everyone wants them gone tho’, don’t they?
We have over a half million acres of prairie dogs in my state alone. How many do we need?
“The soils in prairie dog towns are moister than the soils in the surrounding grasslands, and higher in organic matter. This may account for the increased populations of tunneling insects and worms that honeycomb the soil profile in a prairie dog town.”
This is probably due to all the graze kept short so that the water goes into the soil and doesn’t run off or evaporate. In other words, intensive grazing. Just as many of us do with our cattle.The dogs want it short for the young tender grasses that come up. Also they want it short so that predators can’t seek up on them.
Question: How does all this water get into the ground from all those holes that are all mounded up? Have you ever been to a prairie dog town?Water would have to get pretty deep to enter the holes that are mounded up at le3ast a foot high.
I have a neighbor with a dog town. I go there fairly often. As they use up all the feed on the inside area they move to the outside are, as do all grazing animals. The center remains used up, with weeds and barren as they expand outward.
Those who enjoy these cute little creatures should get some and put them in their back yard lawn.
But I bet most won’t. They just want ranchers to run them on their land. They don’t want to be bothered with them. Kind of like the guy who left the horse near your area that you guys fed.
One last point, I’d like to see the real thing that the painting shows. But the sad truth is, there will never be grass that tall around where that many dogs are.
Question: How does all this water get into the ground from all those holes that are all mounded up? Have you ever been to a prairie dog town?Water would have to get pretty deep to enter the holes that are mounded up at le3ast a foot high.
Check the dyed cross section again–this is an iconic photograph–and you’ll see that water moves through macropores built by tunneling invertebrates, and by roots. Water doesn’t flow in through the entrance of the prairie dog holes, but their underground towns channel water because the soil in their towns are honeycombed with macropores… which happens because the insect populations are much higher than the surrounding grasslands… which is why intensive grazing does not have the same effect on the water cycle. The web of life in a prairie dog town is much denser than on grasslands, and it moves water down to the groundwater.
I don’t think you should be required to host prairie dogs on private land. But this keystone species should be allowed to live on public land. I feel the same way about buffalo, another species that we’ve taken down to 1 or 2% of their original population, and still won’t allow on public land.
We have buffalo on public land in SD.
I would think most wouldn’t want buffalo because of the danger from them and the expensive fencing it would cost.
Keystone species huh? How about free roaming indians also?
How far back do you want to take it? Jurrasic period?
Thanks for this, Alice! It’s really interesting research that I hadn’t heard of before. as with everything, balance seems to be key :D.
Oh my… Do I have to worry about all those prairie dogs drowning when it rains? I guess I spend too much time worrying about all furry friends. Here in western Massachusetts, there has been a big problem with Fisher Cats attacking and killing dogs and cats… Also coyotes are everywhere, even in the very populated areas.
I don’t buy that there are any ‘pests’ in the world.. except, maybe the human kind.
Everything - even mosquitoes - have a purpose, and are food for fish and birds.
Have you ever read Patrick D. Smith? I would highly recommend his books Forever Island and Allapattah. Incredible.
Jane, you may well be so. Have you ever killed anything to make your life easier? such as a fly or mosquito? Mouse or a rat?
Yes, everything has it’s place. Most are to be food for others. On second thought, we all are. Cycle of life an all that.
When something is endangering you or your livelyhood, you will take measures to stop the threat. One way or another.
My giving you a ranchers viewpoints is one way I do that.