Reintroducing Blacktailed Prairie Dogs

On Monday July 24, 2023 Mark Mitchell of Texas Parks and Wildlife presented an Advanced Training session at the July Texas Master Naturalist, Hill Country Chapter Monthly Meeting. The topic of his presentation was
"Reintroduction Efforts of Black Tailed Prairie Dogs and Why This is Good".
Mark Mitchell has been with the Texas Parks and Wildlife since 1986. He started at the coastal Wildlife Management area outside of Lake Jackson, Texas. It was originally called the Peach Point Wildlife Management Area and the name was later changed to the Justin Hearst WMA. In Gonzales, Texas he worked as a regulatory biologist and in Southeast Texas he assisted landowners where he was involved in research projects on Bald Eagles, Piping Plovers, Peregrine falcons, White-tailed deer, Bobwhite quail, waterfowl and colonial waterbirds. He became involved in the reintroduction of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs while at Mason Mountain WMA.
Besides research on game and non-game species, he has been very involved in the management of habitat through the use of prescribed fire. As a burn boss he conducted over 160 prescribed fires totaling almost 20,000 acres.
"I always say there are two things wildlife biologists really enjoy," he said, "and that is trapping and moving animals and burning up dead grass and sticks. I have been lucky to have gotten to do both."