Produced by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 1999 this Conservation Assessment and Strategy is the result of a 1998 petition by the National Wildlife Federation to list the black-tailed prairie dog as threatened throughout its range. While the requested emergency listing was not granted a review process for the petition was initiated. A number of states, tribes and other entities with an interest in black-tailed prairie dogs agreed to pursue a conservation agreement as a reasonable approach to black-trailed prairie dog management.

This paper asses the status of the black-tailed prairie dog and includes a wide range of interesting historic information.

From the paper:

The purpose of this Conservation Agreement is to manage, maintain, and enhance habitat and populations of black-tailed prairie dogs across its historic range and reduce the number of threats impacting their viability through the cooperation of private, tribal, federal, and state landowners. The Conservation Agreement has many elements that provide actions, opportunities, and incentives for interested parties to become involved with conservation. By implementing management actions such as eliminating mandatory control, regulating seasons or possession limits, maintaining and conserving their habitat and ecosystem needs, and establishing core populations on public lands to provide animals for dispersal to uninhabited areas or individuals for recolonization, the cooperators of this conservation agreement contribute greatly toward the conservation of the species.

Van Pelt, W.E. 1999. The black-tailed prairie dog conservation assessment and strategy. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program Technical Report 159. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, Arizona.

Source: PDF from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies