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FULL CONTACT INFORMATION.
Sample letter follows.
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Rick Cables, Regional Forester
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region
P.O. Box 25127; Lakewood, CO 80225-0127
ph: 303-275-5450; fax: 303-275-5482
email:
rcables@fs.fed.us
web mail:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/contact/feedback/
The Honorable Mark Rey
Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Room 217E, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20250
ph: 202-720-7173; fax 202-720-0632
email:
mark.rey@usda.gov
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SAMPLE LETTER
This letter
is prepared to inform you about the issue. Try to shorten and
personalize your letter before sending.
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Dear Under Secretary Rey and Mr.
Cables,
The eradication of prairie dogs in
the western grasslands of Conata Basin is a stunning
example of government duplicity at the taxpayer's
expense.
On one hand, USDA seeks to appease
roughly 15 ranchers who claim prairie dogs and cows
vie for the same grass. Government-subsidized
ranchers want USDA Forest Service to poison up to
two-thirds of Conata Basin prairie dogs.
On the other hand, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has invested 26 years and over $25
million taxpayer dollars to renew the black-footed
ferret, among the most endangered mammals in North
America. This program continues to release ferrets
into the wild, including the largest population of
about 300 ferrets in the basin.
I am disgusted USDA is set to
undermine Fish And Wildlife by killing prairie dogs
-- the black-footed ferret's primary sustenance. The
extermination of prairie dogs is not only inhumane
and excessive, it also undoes the ferret's comeback
by wiping out 90% of their diet.
How can one agency save an
imperiled animal, while another destroys the same
animal?
Ranchers have already persuaded
the forest service to exterminate prairie dogs on
federal lands adjacent to their private property.
The poisoning occurs annually. Now, USDA is poised
to sabotage Fish and Wildlife's ferret
reintroduction plan by poisoning even more Conata
Basin prairie dogs.
The prairie dog is a key link in
the Badlands/Conata Basin chain, where restoration
of bison, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets and
swift fox form a nearly inclusive Great Plains
ecosystem. Conata Basin supports the only large
black-tailed prairie dog complex on federal lands.
Cattle graze on almost 100% of
national grasslands, whereas prairie dogs occupy
less than 1%. I ask the U.S. government to stop
killing prairie dogs.
Please do not spend taxpayer
dollars on private-interest ranchers. Please do not
transform public lands into slaughter grounds.
Poison assures a painful death, with internal
bleeding that may last as long as 72 hours. Poison
also affects burrowing owls, rabbits, songbirds and
more non-target species.
I urge USDA to invest in a
non-violent, non-lethal approach to prairie dog
control on interior lands. And while you're at it,
preserve the black-footed ferret -- a species our
tax dollars helped to save in the first place.
Thank you,
