Youmans stressed that there will be no changes in the ability of private landowners to control prairie dogs on their lands. The plan was developed by Montana's prairie dog working group, composed of state and federal agencies, Montana's Indian tribes, conservation organizations, and landowners. One of the plan's objectives is to change the legal status of prairie dogs via legislation that recognizes the burrowing animals' value to prairie ecosystems and the fact that they can be a nuisance that can require control on private lands. They are generally yellowish tan in color. They have short ears and a short tail tipped in black or white, depending on the species.
Prairie dogs are active by day and live in colonies.
Today, about 10 percent of all occupied black-tailed prairie dog habitat in the United States exists in Montana. Fly fishing season has begun in Western Montana.