Karmactive Staff
On September 8, wildlife advocacy groups launched a legal challenge to bring back federal safeguards for the lesser prairie chicken after a Texas court decision eliminated the bird’s protected status. The Center for Biological Diversity and Texas Campaign for the Environment are challenging a decision that removed safeguards put in place in 2022. The Texas court ruling came after the Trump administration claimed there was a “fundamental error” in the original listing. The Texas judge sided with this argument and removed the endangered species safeguards without conducting a formal hearing, even though environmental groups had twice requested to join the case to defend the bird.
“Lesser prairie chickens deserve a fair day in court when their existence is on the line,” said Jason Rylander, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Instead the court blindly accepted the Trump administration’s bogus claim of error without even considering the opposition.”
The birds, known for their colorful mating displays, received protection in 2022 after nearly 30 years of delay. When the protection was established in 2022, it classified the bird into two separate groups: those in Texas and New Mexico were considered endangered, while birds in Kansas, Oklahoma, and other northern areas were listed as threatened.
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After the new administration took office, the Fish and Wildlife Service changed its position on the listing, even though the original protection was based on thorough scientific analysis and public input.
Several states and industry groups challenged the original protection, including oil and gas associations and cattle industry organizations from Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. These groups operate in areas that overlap with the prairie chicken’s habitat.
Lesser prairie chickens have declined to just a fraction of their historic numbers. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands across nearly 100 million acres, the species has lost about 90 percent of its habitat. Recent surveys estimated around 32,000 birds remain across five states.
The bird’s decline stems from several factors: conversion of grasslands to cropland, cattle grazing, oil and gas development, power lines, woody plant encroachment, and climate-related issues like drought and rising temperatures.
Following the court’s decision to vacate the listing, the Fish and Wildlife Service plans to complete a new finding by November 30, 2026. The court noted that 16 existing conservation programs remain in place during this interim period.
Environmental organizations are fighting back on two fronts – contesting both their exclusion from participating in the legal proceedings and the ruling that eliminated the bird’s protections.
