Musselshell County Extension plans range day with prairie‑dog control demonstration and continuing‑education credits

An extension agent announced plans for a range day in the last week of June near Alkali Creek that will cover water issues — including alkalinity and infiltration — and include a demonstration on prairie‑dog control.

The agent said a speaker from Great Falls (part of a Montana soil/land group) will present on water‑related topics and “Steven Van Hassel has agreed to come down and do a demonstration on prairie dog control.” The demonstration will include discussions of methods such as smoke fumigation and a propane exploder, and will cover economic considerations — “what is worth doing, what's not worth doing,” the agent said.

A participant cautioned about using poisons for control, saying, “when you start putting poisons and whatnot down, you got to worry about a lot of …” and attendees discussed that fumigation or propane may be less destructive to non‑target species.

Organizers said the event will likely run midday with lunch and will aim to offer continuing‑education credits. They said they expect to be able to offer one pesticide credit and perhaps a second for the agent’s weeds presentation; a separate fall program may be worth three credits.

Next steps: staff will finalize the date and speakers, advertise the event, and complete credit‑approval paperwork; the date was described as tentative (the last week of June).