1. Research and Conservation on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation
Shaun M. Grassel Wildlife Biologist Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Recreation

2. Outline of Presentation
Location
Department information
Management activities overview
Research and Projects
Black-footed ferrets
Pronghorn

3. Lower Brule Indian Reservation

4. Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Recreation
9 full-time staff: Director, 2 administrative assistants, 3 Biologists (Habitat, Wildlife, Assistant), 2 Conservation Officers, 1 Bison Manager
Created in the early 1980’s as an outfitter/hunting lodge
Focus changed to wildlife management in 1993

5. Management Activities
Big Game (Mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn) - Aerial surveys to estimate population size, recruitment surveys, estimate harvest, hunting recommendations
Upland Game (Greater prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasant) – lek surveys, roadside brood surveys, estimate harvest, hunting recommendations
Habitat – noxious weed and cedar control, grassland and wetland restoration, shelterbelt and food plot plantings
Bison and elk management

6. Conservation Projects
Prairie dog conservation – colony mapping, estimate harvest, plague management, translocations, sylvatic plague vaccine field trials
Swift fox reintroduction
Black-footed ferret reintroduction

7. Research Activities
Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Habitat characteristics of chestnut-collared longspurs
Demographics of burrowing owls and recreational prairie dog shooting

8. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs

9. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Asymmetric patterns of avoidance of badgers by ferrets based on the sex of both species.
Ferrets avoided adult female badgers, but not male badgers, and male ferrets exhibited less avoidance than female ferrets.

11. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Asymmetric patterns of avoidance of badgers by ferrets based on the sex of both species.
Ferrets avoided adult female badgers, but not male badgers, and male ferrets exhibited less avoidance than female ferrets.
Additionally, avoidance decreased with increasing densities of prairie dogs.

12. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Reproduction by prairie dogs was strongly influenced by precipitation received during the previous year and winter severity.
Harsh winter conditions resulted in a marked decline in reproduction during one of the years of our study.

14. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Reproduction by prairie dogs was strongly influenced by precipitation received during the previous year and winter severity.
Harsh winter conditions resulted in a marked decline in reproduction during one of the years of our study.
Despite a marked decrease in the reproduction of prairie dogs, reproduction by ferrets varied little across years of our study.

15. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
Ferret productivity Year Average litter size Kits:adult female
Observed litter size of ferrets varied little during the 3 years of our study as did the number of kits captured and marked per adult female with similar effort.
Our data is limited to the Lower Brule site and because of small sample size our comparisons were qualitative.
These data suggest that a consistent number of juvenile ferrets were born annually during this time period despite marked differences among years in reproduction by prairie dogs, including a 77% decrease in prairie dog production in 2010.
Although our sample size is small, it seems to support an alternative hypothesis that ferrets might produce a relatively consistent number of young because they evolved within an ecosystem that has relatively abundant and stable prey.

16. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
On multiple scales badgers selected for prairie dog colonies, and within prairie dog colonies, they selected for areas with high burrow densities.

17. Badgers selected for prairie dog colonies at the largest spatial scale we examined.
67% of badger locations were on prairie dog colonies while prairie dog colonies comprised only 20% of our study site.

20. Ecological relationships of black-footed ferrets, badgers, and black-tailed prairie dogs
On multiple scales badgers selected for prairie dog colonies, and within prairie dog colonies, they selected for areas with high burrow densities.
At the scale of their geographic range, badgers are most often described as generalists, but our results suggest local specialization appears to occur and is most likely due to the abundance and predictability of prairie dogs.

21. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population

22. Historical / Current Range

26. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Goals of research
Evaluate resource selection patterns
Evaluate seasonal movement patterns
Estimate survival rates and causes of mortality
45 adults fitted with GPS collars
14 kids fitted with VHF collars in 2015
Goal to capture 35 kids annually

27. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Resource selection patterns – preliminary findings
Appear to avoid lands enrolled into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
Select for roads during parturition
Avoid prairie dog colonies during parturition
Avoid cattle during parturition

28. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Seasonal movements – preliminary findings
Fall/winter movements and herd characteristics dictated by winter weather patterns

29. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Survival – preliminary findings
10 of 14 kids killed by coyotes
Kids / 100 Does
Year
Lower Brule
Nearby Counties
2004 27 97
2005 26
100
2006 77
2007 14 76
2008
n/a 86
2009 63 60
2010 29 57
2011 44
2012 38
2013
Average 30 71

30. Resource selection, survival rates, and seasonal movements of a declining pronghorn population
Survival – preliminary findings
10 of 14 kids killed by coyotes
4 of 25 adult mortalities – 2 males legal harvest, 2 females unknown (disease suspected)