LINCOLN — Nebraska ranchers with prairie dogs on their land could find themselves ordered to control the critters under a bill that won first-round approval Wednesday in the Legislature.
Legislative Bill 473, sponsored by Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth, gives county boards the authority to adopt prairie dog management plans. Under the plans, a landowner could be compelled to poison or otherwise control prairie dogs if the rodents trigger a complaint by migrating onto neighboring properties.
Prairie dogs, a native wildlife species in Nebraska, are considered a pest by many ranchers. As a result, the vast majority of prairie dog colonies have already been eradicated.
But the ground rodents can quickly spread into suitable habitat areas they once occupied, Louden said. His bill essentially would give a county authority to make landowners address migrating populations of prairie dogs.
"If you want them, keep them," Louden said after his bill advanced to the second round of debate with 30 votes. "They need to be managed in such a way they don't migrate."
Louden tried to get a similar measure passed in 2005 but was thwarted by a filibuster orchestrated by former Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
