Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative
Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative
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.
The following NRCS Farm Bill conservation programs are providing farmers and ranchers assistance to improve Lesser Prairie Chicken habitat: the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) and Grassland Reserve Program (GRP).
Actions
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Support sustainable grazing management that results in residual nesting cover and supports native plant communities.
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Increase connectivity of existing lesser prairie chicken habitat.
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Improve weed and invasive species management.
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Reduce tillage on agricultural fields.
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Protect, maintain, and restore large tracts of native oak/tallgrass or sand sagebrush grassland.
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Maintain stability of land use, and conserve shrub-dominated habitats near lek sites.
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Promote use of government programs that provide incentives for development or restoration of habitat on private lands.
Lesser Prairie Chicken Articles
Field Tools
Additional Lesser Prairie-Chicken Resources
Non-government Partners
State Wildlife Agency Partners
Lesser Prairie Chicken USDA Radio Stories
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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