We have good news and bad about the prairie dog population in Colorado.

The good news is that a federal survey shows the critters have doubled the size of their habitat, meaning they are too plentiful to be listed on the endangered species list.

That they are plentiful, is the bad news for many Coloradans.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife official Tina Jackson confirmed “we have enough” prairie dogs, and had this to say about a potential endangered or threatened species listing.

“A listing of a species like this would have a huge impact on landowners. It could restrict activities on their property,” she said.

Problem solved, right?

Environmentalists are not known for taking good news well about the positive state of Mother Earth, so of course they found something to whine about — the colonies still aren’t big enough.

And unless we have tons more prairie dogs, the black-footed ferrets won’t have enough of the critters to eat, they say.

We’ve always argued that prairie dogs are worthless except to feed the ferrets.

Who knew that environmentalists would ever come around to our way of thinking?

It’s a positive start, but we expect their buddies over in animal activist land won’t be too happy about their position.