The federal agency on Wednesday published a negative finding on a petition to upgrade the species from "threatened" to "endangered" under the ESA.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the Utah prairie dog's numbers remain stable and "within range of historic fluctuations," and that factors identified by the petitioners amounted to "small, localized impacts" on specific Utah prairie dog populations.

“Since the Utah prairie dog is currently listed as a threatened species, it is protected under the Endangered Species Act and benefits from conservation measures and recovery actions afforded by federal protection,” said Mitch King, the Service's Acting Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region.

“The Service will continue to monitor the population status, trends and management actions important to the conservation of the Utah prairie dog and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts,” he added.

Specifically, the Fish and Wildlife Service says it will commence a five-year review of the species and will issue a revised recovery plan for the Utah prairie dog later this year.

But environmental groups, who were caught off guard by the decision, say that isn't good enough.

"Utah prairie dogs are racing against time. We will continue to push forward, as upgraded legal protections are the Utah prairie dog's only hope of survival," said Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director of the New Mexico-based Forest Guardians organization.

The Utah prairie dog had a peak population of around 95,000 in the 1920s, prior to control programs that began eradicating those numbers. The population dropped to a low of 3,300 in 1972.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources estimated its population at about 4,022 adults in 2004, with its primary range located in western Garfield County and eastern Iron County.

Environmental groups say that while the ESA has helped the Utah prairie dog stave off extinction, the refusal to initiate the full protections endangered status would bring have prevented the species from recovering.

Utah prairie dogs continue to be shot each year, Forest Guardians says, and the species' habitat continues to be fragmented.

Rosmarino says Bureau of Land Management oil and gas leases proposed for sale include 7,000 critical acres where the prairie dog exists.

Critics of the decision also charge that this agency's ruling is part of a series of species findings that were politically motivated rather than scientifically determined.

Environmental groups cite evidence of political interference, mostly in the form of Interior Department e-mails, in the case of Gunnison's prairie dog, the Gunnison sage grouse and the white-tailed prairie dog, among other species.

jbaird@sltrib.com