Should lesser prairie-chicken be listed under endangered species act?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is extending the deadline for public comment on the proposal to list two distinct population segments of the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act. The new deadline for public comment on this proposal is Wednesday, Sept. 1.

The lesser prairie-chicken is a species of prairie grouse commonly recognized for its colorful spring mating display and stout build. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, its population has declined, largely due to habitat loss and fragmentation across the southern Great Plains.

The lesser prairie-chicken currently occupies a five-state range that includes portions of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

The service’s scientific review of past, present and future threats to the lesser prairie-chicken and ongoing conservation efforts found the Southern DPS is in danger of extinction, and the Northern DPS is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

The service’s proposal to list the Southern DPS as endangered under the ESA and the Northern DPS as threatened with a 4(d) rule was published in the Federal Register on June 1.

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