In October 2012, New Century Environmental, the tribal biologist for Standing Rock, documented the most endangered mammal in North America, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), on Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota, south of the Grand River near Mobridge.
Earlier this year New Century Environmental (NCE) secured a grant in getting Standing Rock Game & Fish Department from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to document wild ferrets on the reservation to assess presence and abundance of possible impacts to ESA-listed species like northern long-eared bats (listed as Threatened 4(d)) and black-footed ferrets (listed as ESA Endangered).
At present, known ferret populations exist only at reintroduction sites where introduced populations remain small, fragmented, and intensively managed with only a few of these introduced populations producing wild-born adults. As a result of the bottleneck of the captive breeding program, black-footed ferrets have lost 90% of their genetic diversity
The long term goal for the tribe is to maintain control for black-tailed prairie dogs in an primarily used for cattle grazing and the Service goals are to eventually save the ferret from extinction, expanding the ferret’ range into this part of South Dakota.
The first ferret released on Standing Rock south of McIntosh on the proposed Black-footed Ferret Recovery Area, Courtesy photo- Michael P. Gutzmer 2021
Game & Fish Director with biologist Seth Gutzmer holding black footed ferret photo on day of ferret release. Courtesy photo.
Seth Gutzmer, tribal biologist for Standing Rock, stands next to the carriers of ferrets before their release into the wild on Standing Rock Reservation in October 2021.