Endangered Species > Prairie-chicken

Lesser Prairie-chicken

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the lesser prairie chicken warranted Endangered Species Act listing in 1998, but was precluded from actual listing by higher priority actions. The prairie-chicken has been a candidate for Endangered Species Act listing ever since. Scientific evidence demonstrates that, since the warranted but precluded (WBP) finding by the Service, the species has continued to decline throughout its range and faces increasing threats to its survival. Downward population trends have been documented throughout its five-state range in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. In addition, lesser prairie chickens face new threats such as hybridization with greater prairie-chickens and habitat destruction from wind farms. The threats posed by grazing, predation, drought, hunting, and oil and gas exploration have increased throughout the range of the prairie-chicken since 1998.

Lesser prairie-chickens are found in the southern Great Plains, with a historic range that included parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Presently, the occupied range of lesser prairie-chickens has declined by over 90% due to hunting, conversion of habitat to cropland, livestock overgrazing, and other factors. In particular, they are often closely associated with shinnery-oak habitat, a remarkable ecosystem that has been steadily eroded by ranchers and public land managers. In recognition of this severe state of imperilment, the Biodiversity Legal Foundation (now a part of the Center for Biological Diversity) petitioned for the listing of the prairie-chicken in 1995 under the Endangered Species Act.

Forest Guardians is working toward the listing of the lesser prairie-chicken under the ESA. Recent evidence shows declines in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In Kansas, a newly recognized threat of hybridization with greater prairie-chickens spells more trouble for the lesser prairie chicken.

In New Mexico, the situation is dire. To address this, in December 2002, Forest Guardians, in conjunction with a broad coalition of public interest groups, submitted a proposal for the designation of an area of critical environmental concern for the lesser prairie chicken. While once abundant throughout their range in eastern New Mexico, the lesser prairie-chicken has been extirpated from 56% of its former range in the state and persists only as sparse and scattered populations in another 28% of that range. The core of the remaining populations is only 16% of its former range (see ACEC proposal for citations).

For specific questions about our efforts to protect endangered species, contact Dr. Nicole Rosmarino, endangered species program director.