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Plague Management Techniques and Monitoring in Colorado’S Prairie and Shrub-Steppe Ecosystems

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Plague Management Techniques and Monitoring in Colorado’S Prairie and Shrub-Steppe Ecosystems cpw.state.co.us Technical Publication Number 51 COVER PHOTOS Top: Black-tailed prairie dog colony (Sean Streich) Bottom, left to right: 1) Juvenile prairie dogs (Bruce Gill); 2) Insecticidal dust in prairie dog burrow (Dan Tripp) 3) Plague vaccine in drying rack (Danielle Sack) 4) Prairie dog consuming plague vaccine bait (Bruce Gill). Copies of this publication may be obtained from Colorado Parks and Wildlife Research Center Library, 317 West Prospect Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526. Plague Management Techniques and Monitoring in Colorado’s Prairie and Shrub-steppe Ecosystems Daniel W. Tripp, Lucila M. Corro, Shayne R. Magstadt and Danielle A. Sack Technical Publication No. 51 COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE WILDLIFE HEALTH PROGRAM August 2018 CPW-R-T-51-18 ISSN 0084-8883 STATE OF COLORADO John Hickenlooper, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Robert W. Randall, Executive Director COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION John V. Howard, Chair; Michelle Zimmerman, Vice-Chair; James Vigil, Secretary; Robert W. Bray; Marie Haskett; Carrie Besnette Hauser; Marvin McDaniel; Dale E. Pizel; Dean Wingfield; Alex Zipp COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE Bob D. Broscheid, Director DIRECTOR’S STAFF Reid DeWalt, Assistant Director for Wildlife and Natural Resources; Heather Dugan, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement and Public Safety; Justin Rutter, Assistant Director for Financial Services; Margaret Taylor, Assistant Director for Capital, Parks and Trails; Gray Thorson, Assistant Director for Information and Education; Jeff Ver Steeg, Assistant Director for Research, Policy and Planning REGIONAL MANAGERS Patt Dorsey, Southwest Region Manager; Dan Prenzlow, Southeast Region Manager; JT Romatzke, Northwest Region Manager; Mark Leslie, Northeast Region Manager Study and Publication Funded by: CPW and Colorado’s Species Conservation Trust Fund Suggested Citation: Tripp, D.W., L.M. Corro, S.R. Magstadt and D.A. Sack. 2018. Plague Management Techniques and Monitoring in Colorado’s Prairie and Shrub-steppe Ecosystems. Colorado Parks and Wildlife Technical Publication 51. Corresponding author: Dan Tripp (email: [email protected]) Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Current Plague Management Activities ............................................................................................................................ 11 Plague Management Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 12 Plague Management Field Schedule and Guidelines ........................................................................................................ 17 Field Safety ........................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Field Technician Plague Safety Precautions ..................................................................................................................... 20 Collecting Prairie Dog and Small Mammal Carcasses ..................................................................................................... 22 Garmin GPS and ArcGIS Instructions .................................................................................................................................. 23 How to Use a Garmin GPS Unit ....................................................................................................................................... 23 GPS Data Uploading from Computer ............................................................................................................................... 24 GPS Data Downloading to Computer ............................................................................................................................... 25 GPS Burrow Marking ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Converting GPX to Shapefile or Shapefile to GPX using DNRGPS ................................................................................ 27 Creating Transects with ArcGIS Toolbox......................................................................................................................... 28 Creating Transects Manually ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Prairie Dog Colony and Burrow Monitoring ........................................................................................................................ 33 Prairie Dog Colony Perimeter Mapping ........................................................................................................................... 33 Prairie Dog Colony Site Visit ........................................................................................................................................... 34 Burrow Activity Survey .................................................................................................................................................... 36 Prairie Dog Count and Observation .................................................................................................................................. 37 Burrow Counts (Grid Method) .......................................................................................................................................... 39 Burrow Counts (Belt Transect Method) ............................................................................................................................ 39 Burrow Flea Monitoring ....................................................................................................................................................... 41 Burrow Swabbing ............................................................................................................................................................. 41 Flea Processing ................................................................................................................................................................. 43 Plague Vaccine Bait Production ........................................................................................................................................... 45 Bait Production Lab Set-up ............................................................................................................................................... 45 Collecting and Managing Bait Production Data ............................................................................................................... 47 Calculating Plague Vaccine Quantities ............................................................................................................................. 47 Handling and Diluting Plague Vaccine ............................................................................................................................. 48 Formulating Plague Vaccine Bait ..................................................................................................................................... 49 4 Bait Manufacturing Procedure Utilizing BoilieLab Machine ........................................................................................... 51 Packaging and Labeling .................................................................................................................................................... 54 Storing and Allocating Bait............................................................................................................................................... 55 Plague Vaccine Use Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 56 Plague Vaccine Field Distribution, Data Management and Monitoring ............................................................................... 58 Manual Bait Distribution .................................................................................................................................................. 58 ATV Bait Distribution ...................................................................................................................................................... 60 3-Shooter Lithium Battery Care and Safety ...................................................................................................................... 62 Updating Driver Software Instructions ............................................................................................................................. 63 Changing Triggering Distance on the 3-shooter ............................................................................................................... 64 Downloading and Clearing 3-shooter Data ....................................................................................................................... 64 Manipulating and
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