Curious. The federal agency that four years ago found no justification for listing the white-tailed prairie dog as threatened or endangered, this week decided to re-examine the data.

There were legal reasons for that decision, which were mentioned in a press release issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tuesday. A lawsuit by the Center for Native Ecosystems led to a stipulated settlement under which the agency agreed to spend two more years reviewing the status of white-tailed prairie dogs.

Absent from the press release was any mention of Julie MacDonald, the former deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Interior who oversaw the Fish and Wildlife Service.

MacDonald resigned from the department a year ago this month amid a furor that she personally edited Fish and Wildlife Service reports to exclude several animals from the endangered species list. In December, the agency reversed or agreed to re-examine decisions made while MacDonald was in charge related to seven potential endangered species, including white-tailed prairie dogs.

Listing the white-tailed prairie dog as threatened would have all sorts of implications for western Colorado, eastern Utah and parts of Wyoming and Montana. Agriculture could be affected, as well as development of vacant lands. But, the 2004 report by the Fish and Wildlife Service suggested oil and gas development on public lands “may be a significant threat” to prairie dog habitat.

Hmm. Think anybody might be interested in having an endangered species prevalent throughout this region to use against oil and gas development?

For most people who live in these parts — who see prairie dogs and their dens all along the highways and across federal lands — the notion that the large rodents are endangered is laughable.

A federal working group on prairie dogs examined scientific data from around the West to produce the 2004 Fish and Wildlife Service report on white-tailed prairie dogs. It found that some individual colonies of prairie dogs have declined, while populations of others have skyrocketed. “The fact remains, however, that white-tailed prairie dog populations are continuing to maintain themselves even when faced with disease and human disturbances,” the group said, and listing the white-tailed prairie dog was not justified.

Unfortunately, whether or not MacDonald applied pressure on the working group to reach that conclusion, the report is tainted by her political influence.

So the wildlife service will spend two years conducting a biological study of a creature very few people believe is endangered. We hope it reaches the same conclusion it did four years ago.