A pair of conservation groups are intervening in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s (USFWS) decision to protect lesser prairie chickens under the Endangered Species Act.
The suit, one of two filed in Texas against the decision, was brought by the states of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, along with the Texas General Land Office, Texas Department of Agriculture and Railroad Commission of Texas. The suit challenges USFWS’ move to list the lesser prairie chicken’s Northern District Population Segment (DPS) as threatened, and the Southern DPS as endangered under the act.
The agency announced last November it would protect the two populations. The Southern DPS includes populations in eastern New Mexico and across the southwest Texas Panhandle. The Northern DPS encompasses southeastern Colorado, south-central to western Kansas, western Oklahoma and the northeast Texas Panhandle.
“I’m not surprised that these states are prioritizing oil and gas profits over these imperiled birds, but we’re not going to stand by and watch it happen,” said Jason Rylander of Center for Biological Diversity, one of the suit intervenors, in a statement.
“The lesser prairie chicken is a Texas bird that needs protection or it faces extinction,” said Robin Schneider, executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, the other intervenor. “We are joining the fight to save all the species that call Texas home.”
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the USFWS last October, which resulted in the agency listing the two populations.
Ken Paxton, attorney general of Texas, said the decision would force property owners to comply with new federal regulations wherever the birds are present.
“The lesser prairie chicken’s change in classification puts many of Texas’s conservation efforts at risk, all while bringing immeasurable harm to Texans’ property rights,” Paxton said. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
