Federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken are being lifted after a court order forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to remove the species from the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
USFWS is removing the northern and the southern distinct population segments (DPS) of the lesser prairie chicken and rescinding the Section 4(d) rule for the Northern DPS. The 4(d) rule allows the agency to establish special regulations for threatened species.
Background
In 2016, USFWS received a petition from WildEarth Guardians, Defenders of Wildlife and Center for Biological Diversity to list the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species throughout its entire range or in three DPS under the ESA.
In 2022, the agency published a final rule listing the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species and the Southern DPS as an endangered species. The Northern DPS was located in southeastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma and the northeast Texas Panhandle. The Southern DPS was located in eastern New Mexico and the southwest Texas Panhandle.
The final rule became effective in March 2023. Shortly before the rule went into effect, the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s final listing and the protective regulations of the 4(d) rule for the Northern DPS. Several cattle industry groups and oil and gas organizations filed a similar lawsuit, which was consolidated with the states’ lawsuit. Later in the summer, an additional lawsuit led by the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition challenged the 4(d) rule for the Northern DPS.
Last March, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas vacated the 4(d) rule for the Northern DPS, ruling that the species should no longer be listed as threatened because USFWS failed to consider the economic implications of the listing. In August, the same court issued an order vacating the final listing rule for both the Northern DPS and Southern DPS.
The USFWS’ Feb. 26 action is a response to the court orders. As the court orders had legal effect immediately, the USFWS’ decision is effective immediately.
Industry support
The NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC) filed litigation to remove the listing when the lesser prairie chicken was first listed in 2022, calling the protections legally and scientifically flawed.
“The ESA listing of the lesser prairie-chicken, coupled with the designation of critical habitat across cattle country, created an unnecessary and unlawful burden for ranchers,” said NCBA President Gene Copenhaver. “Established science has repeatedly proven that healthy rangelands maintained by cattle grazing is exactly where the lesser prairie-chicken thrives.”
PLC President Tim Canterbury said that the ability for ranchers to carry out voluntary conservation efforts was constrained when the lesser prairie chicken was listed with two separate designations.
“This delisting is welcome news for ranchers across the region, and we will continue to work with our state and federal partners to create and conserve habitat,” Canterbury said.
Environmental groups expressed disappointment about the decision.
“It’s shameful that the Trump administration sees fit to sacrifice these magnificent birds for oil and gas industry profit,” said Jason Rylander of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The group alleged the species has declined as a result of the “degradation and fragmentation of the southern Great Plains,” including oil and gas drilling, cropland conversion, cattle grazing and drought. — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
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