MONTE VISTA— The 35^th Annual Monte Vista Crane Festival included a lot more than just bird-based educational opportunities this past weekend. On Saturday, the crane festival presented two talks at the Vali Theater about nature relating to the San Luis Valley. The first discussed the plight of prairie dogs and the second explored the ecology of the many different kinds of wetlands found in the Valley.

What’s so great about prairie dogs anyway?

Lindsey Sterling Krank with the Humane Society of the United States’ Prairie Dog Coalition presented on the prairie dog populations and conservation efforts underway to protect these rapidly declining and often misunderstood animals. Krank highlighted three main points in favor of preserving prairie dog populations: they are a keystone species, they have a complex communication system, and 95 percent of their population has been eliminated already.

Krank explained prairie dogs are a keystone species because 200 other species are associated with them and their habitats and nine other species directly rely on them. Prairie dogs contribute to their ecosystem by providing a prey species to certain predators like hawks. Krank cited the example of Ferruginous Hawks, whose numbers are in decline because of habitat loss, prey loss and because of secondary poisoning through prairie dogs being poisoned. In addition to being prey, other species utilize their burrows, like Black-Footed Ferrets, Burrowing Owls and the Mountain Plover. Krank also stated prairie dogs provide more floral abundance and don’t actually destroy the grasslands around them, but keep the grass shorter to monitor for predators near their burrows. “The more heterogeneity, the more biodiversity,” Krank added.

Krank presented research by Dr. Don Slobadchikoff, who studied the prairie dogs language, which has been decoded more than the communication of whales, chimpanzees and dolphins. The prairie dogs have alarm calls that vary based on species, with Krank playing their distinct alarms for coyotes, dogs and humans, noting they never confuse dogs and coyotes, even when the two are similar in appearance.  Prairie dogs also have a sentence structure that includes nouns, adjectives and verbs, confirmed in a study where the same woman approached a prairie dog colony in differently colored shirts and the alarms varied when describing the color of the shirt. Slobadchikoff’s research also found prairie dogs have different dialects by region and local districts.

There are five species of prairie dogs and all have lost a combined 95 percent of their population through habitat loss, poisoning, recreational shooting and sylvatic plague. Krank noted “the perception that prairie dogs are everywhere because you see them in medians” and in other small spaces where they don’t belong isn’t accurate, because finding them in those locations means urban sprawl and agricultural expansion has chased them out of the spaces they would normally live. Krank also noted a lot of the acceptance for poisoning the animals comes from research done by C.H. Merriam which gained popularity during the New Deal Era when he concluded it takes 318 prairie dogs to eat as much grass as one cow, which was inaccurate because the prairie dogs don’t destroy the grass, just trim it and this justified moving cattle into the prairie dogs existing habitats.

Sylvatic plague is not a disease native to prairie dogs, but is given to them by bacteria carried in fleas. Prairie dogs actually are not carriers and don’t have an immunity to the plague, they die from it, unlike unaffected carriers like coyotes and 77 other species. In humans, the plague can be treated with a 10-day course of antibiotics and it’s largely no longer a significant health threat. To combat the plague, conservationists are using mild pesticides to kill the fleas and are immunizing prairie dogs and black footed ferrets with a vaccine distributed with oral bait.

To change the public perception of prairie dogs, conservationists are framing the discussion from a cost-benefit angle. Poisoning prairie dogs is actually an economic loss, Krank explained and because they are a prey species, having colonies near where people live keeps dogs and cats safer. There is also more forage for other animals on prairie dog colony areas than off.

Prairie dog recovery relies on identifying key conservation areas, working with willing partners and completing wild to wild relocation or translocation efforts or building up passive relocation, like establishing natural barriers to encourage them to move out of dangerous areas. When completing relocations, coteries (family units) have to be kept together. Advocates are also looking at incentivized and voluntary landowner conservation efforts. The last attempt at landowner incentives fell through when plague killed the population in question before anything was finalized. There are several ways concerned individuals can help prairie dogs by donating to the Prairie Dog Coalition or “adopting” prairie dogs. More information can be found at http://www.humanesociety.org/about/departments/prairie_dog_coalition/index.html.

Biodiversity of San Luis Valley wetlands

Denise Culver, an ecologist with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) through the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, presented the discussion “Unique Wetlands of the San Luis Valley” in which she explained the different kinds of wetlands found throughout the region and the unique and rare species these wetlands harbor. Culver explained the San Luis Valley is the largest Montane Park in Colorado and possibly in North America. After explaining more about the geology and hydrology of the region, Culver pointed out the only about two percent of the state of Colorado is wetlands, the Valley is six percent and Alamosa County alone has 10 percent.

Culver explained the CNHP ranks species on a Global (G) G1-G5 scale. G1 means there are five or fewer of those species in the world. Similarly, they rank the biodiversity of an area on a B1-B5 scale, with B1 meaning outstanding biodiversity value and B5 as only general or local significance. There are 51 plant species, 49 animal species and 100 plant communities found primarily in the Valley region. The Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle for example, is a G1 species and the slender spider flower, although dense in the region, is a G2 because it isn’t found anywhere else. The Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge is a B3 site in the San Luis Valley. There are three B1 sites, 24 B2 sites and 80 B3 sites throughout the region.

Culver went through the different kinds of wetlands found in the area and the rare species found in each one. San Luis Lakes/Sand Creek Wetlands are Riparian wetlands, home to the San Luis Sandhill Skipper, the Long-Billed Curlew and the Snowy Plover. Russell Lakes are a Playa Lakes type of wetland, home to the white-faced Ibis, Black-Crowned Night Heron and Slender Spider flower. Fen wetlands are found near Villa Grove. Fen wetlands have at least 40 inches of peat at the edge of an alluvial fan, and it takes 1,000 years to form only eight inches of peat. Local Fen wetlands are home to Analouge Sedge, Slim Sedge and the Rio Grande Chub. Unsurprisingly, an example of thermal wetlands can be found at Valley View Hot Springs, which Culver joked was “an interesting place to do a survey” and then judged the number of Valley natives in the audience by the understanding murmur of laughter she received. The Thermal Wetlands are home to the helleborine orchid, the steam bog orchid, the hot springs physa (the only snail in the presentation) and the Brazilian free-tailed bat who feed on mosquitoes. Lower Rock Creek and the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge are wet meadow wetlands, home to the slender spider flower and of course the Sandhill Crane. Freshwater Marshes are found in Russell and Alamosa lakes, home to the marsh wren and the western grebe, which cannot walk on land because their feet are too far behind them.

Culver then discussed the Sandhill Cranes and why the local wetlands are ideal conditions for them. The cranes, typically 7-8 pound birds, can gain about a pound while stopped in the San Luis Valley, before moving up to 500 miles north. They eat the grains, small vertebrates and crayfish found in and near the wetlands areas. The local wetlands are ideal because they provide four to eight inches of moving water ideal to roost in and prevent disease. Before taking questions, Culver encouraged the audience to back her proposal to rename the crane festival the “Monte Vista Crane Habitat Festival,” which was met with applause from those in attendance.

Culver was asked how the cranes are doing overall. She answered they are largely doing well due to collaboration between public land entities and private landowners. Event Organizer Jenny Nehring added their populations are mostly remaining steady but there are concerns about habitat fragmentation. Another attendee asked “How much of Colorado’s wetlands have been lost and if there is a movement to restore them?” Culver answered Colorado has lost at least 50 percent of its original wetlands although she believes it might be closer to 90 percent. There are a lot of incentive programs to create and restore wetlands and added “The Clean Water Act isn’t going anywhere but it can be weakened in other ways. Just remember to keep an eye on that and remember it when you’re voting.” Another person asked if the wetlands were not actively managed, would they disappear or become desert? Nehring answered some of the local wetlands that are federally managed have either been enhanced or created to meet obligations of the closed basin compact. “No there wouldn’t be as much wetlands, but many of them are artesian,” so they wouldn’t completely disappear but the extent the water could spread out could decrease without management.

More about Colorado’s wetlands and research done in the San Luis Valley wetlands can be found at http://cnhp.colostate.edu/cwic/ or on the Colorado Wetlands Mobile App.