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Rich County commissioners have opted not to allow reintroduction of the endangered black-footed ferret into a prairie dog colony on private land in northern Utah, according to the County Clerk's Office.
The county was considering a plan by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to place 20 ferrets a year onto the LDS Church-owned Deseret Land and Livestock ranch, which had approved the idea as long as neighboring landowners didn't object. The state and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had agreed to treat the new ferret population as experimental and not impose land-use restrictions if the population spread to neighboring private or public lands.
But most neighbors did object, and commissioners said they couldn't support the plan because of fears that environmentalists or government agencies might later impose restrictions under the Endangered Species Act.
Rich County's approval wasn't technically required for a reintroduction, though state officials said they wouldn't proceed without it. Commissioners voted 3-0 against the plan Wednesday.
Black-footed ferrets were thought extinct before a population was discovered in Wyoming in 1981 and brought into captivity for breeding. They have since been placed in 19 locations in the Great Plains, Southwest, Canada and Mexico — including one in Uintah County's Coyote Basin in eastern Utah.