Download Swift Fox Presentation

Beneficial Management
Practices for Saskatchewan
Species at Risk:
Swift Fox
Endangered
• Buffy-yellow with black
tip on bushy tail
• Black patches on muzzle
• Size of a house cat
• Omnivourous
• Require short native
grasses, flat terrain &
sparse vegetation
Helene Careau
• Located in southern Saskatchewan
• Extirpated from Canada in early 1900’s
• Declined due habitat loss, trapping,
hunting, disease, vehicle collisions and
predation
• Reintroduced from 1983 to 1997
• Status: Endangered
• Census in 2005/2006 counted 20 foxes
Beneficial Management Practices
Habitat Size
• Retain fragments of primarily native
prairie in patches of 14,000 acres or more
• Retain smaller fragments of native prairie
that are within ~50km of larger blocks of
native grassland
Grazing
• Manage for primarily Healthy range with
50-60% carry over
• Promote vegetation that varies in height
and density across the landscape through
grazing regimes or livestock distribution
Woody Vegetation
• Do not plant tree of shrubs on or adjacent
to native grassland
• If removing woody vegetation for range
improvement in native or tame grassland,
use methods that do not result in long-term
harm to herbaceous vegetation
Converting Cropland to Perennial Cover
• Convert cultivated land to non-invasive
perennial species that do not grow taller
than 25-30cm in height
• Seed a pure grass mix or grass mix that
includes a prostrate form of legume
• Seed finer grasses in forage mixes
• Seed herbaceous species that grow will in
a stand with others
Roads
• Minimize number of roads constructed
through native prairie
• Limit traffic speed on roads through swift
fox habitat
• Avoid constructing built-up, graveled or
paved roads
• Re-vegetate linear developments with
native or fine, mid-height tame vegetation
Rodent Control
• Shoot or fumigate rodents rather than
poison if rodent control is necessary
• Place strychnine bait directly in rodent
burrows
Predator Control
• Shoot rather than trap or poison if coyote
control is deemed necessary
• Reduce coyote population to one breeding
pair per 10 to 20 square miles if deemed
necessary but do not eliminate population
• Do not reduce American Badger
population
Disease
• Vaccinate domestic dogs against canine
distemper and parvovirus