In the time of the novel coronavirus, decision-making bodies on local environmental issues are all on hold while local and state governments concentrate on those parts of the crisis for which they have to assume responsibility.

Black-tailed prairie dogs once occupied a territory hundreds of miles wide, stretching from Mexico to Canada. We have now converted nearly all of that grassland to cropland for wheat, corn, other crops; pastures of European grasses; or paved it over for homes and shopping centers. We also introduced sylvatic plague (bubonic plague in humans), a disease that did not exist in North America and for which prairie dogs are not evolved to deal with.