As a recently retired wildlife biologist, I was well aware of what has been transpiring out in the Canada Basin as well as what direction is coming from Capitol Hill. The CNN article "Broken Government" hit the nail on the head.dead on for a welcome change. Everyone has their opinion on prairie dog management and "welfare ranching". the cheap leasing of federal lands that allows ranchers to run so-called cow/calf units on grazing allotments.fattening up their stock with the cheap subsidy of our good taxpayer grass. The ranchers see the "dogs" as open competition for their cattle (and often blame the burrow holes in the "dog" towns as a cause of cattle leg injuries) as they try to maintain their established way of life out on the range. Who could blame them.they are merely taking advantage of a system put in place long ago to help out the cattle industry. But to anyone who watched the "Broken Govt" segment on CNN last night dealing with the ranchers/pdogs and Black-footed Ferrets, there can be only one conclusion..and one only. IT's not a compromise, it's LAW. The Endangered Species Act or ESA. That act MANDATES the saving of the Black-footed Ferret as a species as well as for providing for its ultimate RECOVERY via reintroduction to its historic range.the Canada Basin being a prime example of that habitat. Now it's no secret that the pdogs and the BFF and the whole prairie ecosystem depend on one another for the whole deal to work out. There are myriads of species that are all intimately tied together in the recovery of the BFF and if it goes down, many others will too (including, some say the much maligned P DOG!). It irks me to no end that one agency..the U.S. Dept. Agriculture Forest Service (who runs the nations National Forests and National Grasslands) can put out such poor EIS documents that do not hold up to ultimate scrutiny and hence implementation. In matters of the ESA and specifically the RECOVERY phase of the BFF, the U.S. Dept of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service SHOULD hold the trump card over the Forest Service and its desire to please the ranchers. But apparently, no.due of course to bureaucratic bungling and dragging of feet at the highest levels. The F&WS (and hence our little BFF friends) have been given the back seat in the ploy to open up the Canada Basin to MASSIVE PDOG POISONING. Here's what we need. first pass this along to every ferret friend you have. Second, immediately sit down and compose a letter to the man in charge for the USDA Forest Service.in this case Mr. Mark Rey (since it appears to be a "top down" management strategy). Tell him what you think.politely of course.and that the ESA demands that the BFF recovery takes precedence over the poor downtrodden ranchers out there. Too bad! Then cc a copy to USDI Fish and Wildlife Service demanding that they dig their heels in and proceed, per law, with the recovery plans. The least we can do is bring this thing to a standstill until a new administration comes n and reviews the situation. Then, if it needs to go to court there are plenty of enviro groups out there who are already lining up on this one. To do anything less is to perhaps doom our BFF friends to the ultimate fate.and I for one am not willing to go there just yet. Putorius and the 8 tumbling tumbleweeds [Posted in FML 5893]