Already, more than 600 farmers and ranchers participating in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative have restored and protected almost one million acres of lesser prairie-chicken habitat since 2010.
The initiative helps decrease lesser prairie chicken habitat loss, increase habitat connectivity and ensure the continued viability of western ranching.
NRCS and its conservation partners are helping farmers and ranchers enhance, restore and protect habitat for this sensitive and reclusive bird. Many of the conservation practices that promote healthy grazing lands are also productive for the Lesser prairie chicken and other wildlife: prescribed grazing, upland wildlife habitat management, brush management, prescribed burning, range plantings, and restoration and management of rare or declining habitats.
The Lesser Prairie Chicken is a grassland-nesting upland bird found in mixed grass, sand-sage andshinnery oak prairies of western Kansas, southeast Colorado, northwest Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, and eastern New Mexico. Once widely distributed, the bird has experienced a 92 percent reduction in population since European settlement.
Agricultural News...Lesser Prairie Chicken series...
Monday, July 16, 2012
For this week's segment on the potential listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened and endangered species, Michelle Shaughnessy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outlines the special conservation programs that department has made available to landowners in other states for developing and preserving lesser prairie chicken habitat.
Michelle Shaughnessy, Lesser Prairie Chicken...
Monday, July 09, 2012, 7:00:00 PM
The first in a series on the possibility of the lesser prairie chicken being listed as a threatened and endangered species, which could have a dramatic impact on western Kansas agriculture: today, from the southwest regional office of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Michelle Shaughnessy, talks about the listing process and what has led to it.
Lesser Prairie Chicken
Thursday, July 05, 2012, 7:00:00 PM
In late September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to propose the lesser prairie chicken as a candidate for the threatened and endangered species list. In that Kansas is home to more than half of the nation’s entire lesser prairie chicken population, such a decision is extremely important to this state. This week, K-State wildlife specialist Charlie Lee looks at how this has come about, and what landowners have at stake in the final decision.
K-State Wildlife Specialist Charlie Lee
Monday, July 02, 2012, 7:00:00 PM
K-State wildlife specialist Charlie Lee presents the first segment of a multi-part informational series on the lesser prairie chicken in Kansas, as federal officials draw nearer to a decision on whether to list it as a threatened and endangered species.
Initiative To Help Lesser Prairie Chicken Populations
USDA is working on multiple fronts to aid farmers in helping bird species that are at risk of becoming endangered. One such species is the Lesser Prairie Chicken. (Rod Bain and Jon Ungerer of Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Actuality: The Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative Described
Natural Resources Conservation Service Wildlife Biologist Phillip Barbour describes an at risk bird species, the Lesser Prairie Chicken, and how a USDA initiative is helping that bird.
Training To Preserve Lesser Prairie Chicken Habitat
Stakeholders of a USDA initiative are receiving conservation training to protect an at-risk bird species in the Southern and Central Plains. (Rod Bain and Manuel DeLeon of Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Initiatives To Protect The Lesser Prairie Chicken
Efforts are underway by landowners and conservationists on several fronts to protect an at-risk bird in the Southern and Central Plains. Rod Bain reports. PARTICIPANTS: Rod Bain, Secretary Tom Vilsack, From NRCS ... Phillip Barbour, Jon Ungerer, Manuel DeLeon, Gene Fults. Bob Stobaugh.
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