City Councilwoman Joan Peck wants Longmont to consider the possibility of creating a “prairie dog village” somewhere on vacant city-owned open space.
Peck, who brought the idea up during Tuesday night’s council meeting, said on Wednesday that such a site could benefit both the city — whenever it faces having to relocate or exterminate unwanted prairie dog colonies from municipal properties — and private property owners — whenever the city considers prairie dog relocation for development applications.
“Over the years, prairie dogs have become an issue,” Peck said, as Longmont grows and develops.
She thought environmental and prairie dog protection activists would be pleased about Longmont providing a site for prairie dog relocation efforts.
Peck said would-be developers now have “to jump through too many hoops” when meeting the city’s requirements for seeking and getting relocation sites — or trapping the prairie dogs to donate them as food for black-footed ferret or raptor recovery programs — before exterminating them.
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