ABSTRACT
Abstract. Scattered encounters with Lesser Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) on the Southern Great Plains were first reported by Euro-American explorers in the mid-1800s. By the 1870s, Euro-Americans had extirpated the American bison (Bison bison), introduced cattle, and begun agricultural cultivation in the region. Lesser Prairie-Chicken populations initially increased with changes on the landscape that came with early settlements, with populations sufficiently abundant to support both subsistence and market hunting. The proportion of prairies converted to cropland steadily increased from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Habitat loss, combined with drought and high winds, precipitated the Dust Bowl, an ecological disaster during the 1930s in the heart of the species’ range. By the late 1930s, Lesser Prairie-Chicken populations were reported to be near extirpation in Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado, with greatly reduced numbers in Texas and Oklahoma. The disaster of the Dust Bowl prompted many of the first landscape conservation efforts to benefit Lesser Prairie-Chickens, including the eventual establishment of the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Lesser Prairie-Chicken populations generally recovered during the 1940s-1960s, but new threats to the species’ habitats emerged during that period. Conversion of grasslands to croplands continued, and development of center-pivot
irrigation systems made it possible to farm previously nonarable sand prairie, sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) prairie, and sand shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) prairie, all prime habitats for Lesser Prairie-Chicken. Oil and gas development and associated infrastructure encroached on and degraded Lesser Prairie-Chicken habitats throughout the species’ range, most intensively in the Permian Basin of west Texas and adjacent New Mexico. The encroachment of invasive trees on grasslands, facilitated by a century of fire suppression, reached levels intolerable to Lesser Prairie-Chickens and caused further habitat loss within the range of the species. Extensive herbicide treatments of both sand sagebrush and sand shinnery oak prairies have degraded the quality of these remaining habitats. By the late 1900s, only 10%–15% of the historical range remained occupied by Lesser Prairie-Chickens. A petition to list the species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1995. The USFWS determined that the listing was “warranted but precluded” by higher priorities, leaving the Lesser Prairie-Chicken as a “candidate” species. The change in conservation status prompted new research and conservation activity for the species, including land acquisitions. Considerable effort and resources were channeled through the Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Lesser Prairie-Chicken populations expanded their range and numbers substantially in Kansas in response to native species grasslands established through the CRP. Much of the conservation activity was monitored through the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group, which produced three documents that culminated with a range-wide conservation plan put into action in early 2014. Continuing loss and degradation
of Lesser Prairie-Chicken habitats due to energy development and prolonged drought prompted the USFWS to list the species as “threatened” on May 12, 2014. The listing decision was vacated by a judicial decision in September 2015, creating considerable regulatory uncertainty regarding the legal status of the species.
