Prairie Wildlife Research, INC.
is a local non-profit conservation organization that has a mission”…to research and conserve wildlife species of the prairie and their habitats by conducting timely, economical, and quality studies and projects that contribute to sound management decisions.”
Prairie Wildlife Research staff have extensive experience with wildlife survey, monitoring and vaccination work in the Great Plains including the states of South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Kansas and New Mexico, as well as Mexico and Canada.
Prairie Wildlife Research staff are familiar with , and have implemented, the survey protocols and data quality standards of the U. S. Forest Service, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, the National Wildlife Federation, and Defenders of Wildlife.
Organization staff have also been involved with black-footed ferret recovery in western South Dakota for the last 20 years and are adept at the techniques of ferret spotlight surveys, ferret trapping, ferret handling and vaccination procedures.
The primary wildlife biologist for Prairie Wildlife Research, Travis Livieri, has been intimately involved with black-footed ferret recovery in Conata Basin/Badlands since 199 5. He previously worked for Badlands National Park, US Forest Service and USGS-BRD on ferrets before starting Prairie Wildlife Research in 200 1. This organization serves as a partner to many agencies, tribes and organizations, but non more so than Badlands National Park and the US Forest Service-Wall Ranger District.
Prairie Wildlife Research has spent thousands of hours in the field working with black-footed ferrets, prairie dogs and plague in the Conata Basin/Badlands area.
The expertise and efforts of Prairie Wildlife Research have been vital in maintaining the black-footed ferret population in the face of a plague epizootic and their efforts remain critical to the future of this species in Conata Basin/Badlands.