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Release the squirrels! State endangered ground squirrels find new home at Kankakee Sands

By Rebecca Thiele

Posted September 27, 2024

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A Franklin's ground squirrel gets ready to exit his cage into the Kankakee Sands prairie.

The relocation project is a collaboration between the Indiana DNR, The Nature Conservancy and Purdue University Fort Wayne. (Justin Moore/Purdue University Fort Wayne)

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources released 25 endangered ground squirrels at Kankakee Sands nature preserve in Newton County. Partners in the project hope to eventually reestablish the squirrel in its original northwest Indiana habitat.

The Franklin’s ground squirrel looks like a chubbier tree squirrel without the fluffy tail. It lives underground and hibernates about half the year. Brad Westrich, Indiana DNR state mammalogist, said unlike prairie dogs, they’re not very social — keeping burrows to themselves and their pups.

He said farming and development destroyed a lot of the squirrel’s prairie habitat and fragmented the populations that are still around.

“The negative effects of being isolated from one another for so long eventually took hold and caused small populations to sort of wink out of existence. And what you have happening there is essentially a loss of genetic diversity where they're not able to cope with changes," Westrich said.

Changes like disease, climate change and run-ins with traffic. The squirrel isn't federally endangered and has generally been found in Midwest states like Wisconsin and Nebraska. Westrich said Indiana is the southernmost part of the animal's range.

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The relocation project is a collaboration between the Indiana DNR, The Nature Conservancy and Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Purdue graduate student Justin Moore brought the ground squirrels down from South Dakota and will be monitoring their survival along with other students.

“Right now, Hoosiers can't go outside and wander around natural areas and hear these little chubsters squeak and run across the trail. And I'm super excited to be part of the project that's going to help future generations and kids in the future just see these guys," said Scott Bergeson, assistant professor of animal biology at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Bergeson said he'll consider the project a success if some of the squirrels survive hibernation, have babies and don't leave the nature preserve. If that happens, the partners will look for other Indiana prairies where the squirrels can be introduced.

The Nature Conservancy said the goal of creating the prairie habitat at Kankakee Sands was to help animals like the ground squirrel. The group said bison have “greatly improved” since they were brought there eight years ago.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.