They burrow tunnels into Cedar City's golf course, leaving behind mini-mounds of red clay that splotch the green fairways. Cars swerve out of their way as they roam from one vacant lot to another in search of grass.

And because the Utah prairie dog is listed as a threatened species, they hold up development after development - to the dismay of builders and the delight of environmentalists.

"They are everywhere," Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherratt says. "Properties are loaded with them, and there is little we can do because it is a federal issue and only the government can tell us what we can and can't do."

But officials, trying to reach a balance between human needs and critter survival, hope a meeting here April 26 will mark the beginning of a solution.

Working with Iron County, Cedar City and the Paiute Tribe, a Las Vegas consultant plans to develop new habitat-conservation plans to help preserve the Utah prairie-dog population without hindering economic development.

Right now, Iron County Commissioner Wayne Smith explains, developers have to count the critters and obtain a "take" permit - to capture and relocate a certain number of the animals to one of several preserves - before they can begin building.

One problem, he adds, is that take permits are limited because the number is derived from a census of prairie dogs living on public lands.

"They don't count the dogs living on private land, and that is about 70 percent of their numbers," Smith says. "They are everywhere you go and everywhere a problem."

The commissioner argues the best solution would be to establish a private preserve through land trades or conservation easements where a healthy, viable population could be maintained. That could allow the whole permit process to be abolished.

Not good enough, counter some environmental groups.

In 2003, they petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to upgrade the Utah prairie dog's listing to "endangered." The animals, unique to southern Utah, were downgraded to "threatened" in 1984.

When no decision came, Forest Guardians sued the government to compel a ruling, which finally came in February 2007.

The Fish and Wildlife Service found insufficient evidence to upgrade the Utah prairie dog to endangered, but is conducting a five-year review of the issue.

Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director of the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians, says the endangered label is essential for the species to survive.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service allows 6,000 to be killed every year," she says. "The habitat-conservation plans now in place cause low survival rates because 95 percent of [relocated] prairie dogs die. We have severe concerns with translocation. It's just another word for killing."

Rosmarino notes prairie dogs also face threats on public lands - from energy exploration, grazing, poisoning and ATV activity.

"All are detrimental to the prairie dog," she says.

Prairie dogs are beneficial as "ecosystem engineers" Rosmarino adds. Their tunnels help produce forage for wildlife and are used by other species, such as burrowing owls and reptiles, for shelter.

"They are also a source of food for avian and mammalian predators," she says. "They have a ripple effect on the ecosystem."

Rosmarino says it is ludicrous to assume that, because of the relatively high numbers on private lands, that the species is healthy. She compares the prairie dogs' demise to that of the passenger pigeon, which became extinct in 1914.

"They once flew in clouds so thick they darkened the sky," she says. "Then their numbers declined to a few million then a few thousand, then a few hundred and then there were none. That could happen to the prairie dog."

Terry Messmer, a professor of wildlife management at Utah State University, has studied the relationship between Utahns and the prairie dog. His findings appeared in the spring 2007 scientific journal Human-Wildlife Conflicts.

He found urbanites know less than rural and farm dwellers about the issue. City types also are more inclined to favor protection of prairie dogs, while rural and agricultural interests are more likely to argue for conservation groups to pay for the damage done by the critters.

Messmer says he welcomes the re-evaluation of habitat plans and wants to see the census include animals on private lands.

"We looked at areas where, if [prairie dogs] were counted on private land, they met recovery goals."

Messmer empathizes with those who have to live with the rambunctious rodents.

"Folks have strong opinions about prairie dogs," he says. "They have been dealing with the problem for 30 years with no progress. It doesn't make sense."

mhavnes@sltrib.com

Conservation director of the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians