ASHLAND, Kansas — Staking out the elusive and rapidly disappearing lesser prairie chicken involves a stealthy 5:30 a.m. entry into a rebar-fortified bird blind, freezing into place as the sun ...

From 2012 to 2014, the prairie chicken in the shinnery oak prairie region fell from 2,967 to 1,155. Range-wide, WAFWA estimated there to be 26,591 birds in 2022, falling from 33,504 last year, and ...

That included habitat improvement to help the lesser prairie-chicken and improving grass conditions to support grazing cattle. In 2024, the commitment shows, he said.

Discover why Kansas prairie grasslands are vital, endangered, and how you can help protect this hidden natural treasure.

A male lesser prairie chicken climbing a sage limb at a breeding area near Follett, Texas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the birds under the Endangered Species Act.

Conservationists and cattle ranchers are working together to restore grassland for the lesser prairie chicken. The bird used to roam Kansas, but has lost most of its habitat to crop production.

A lesser prairie chicken is seen amid the bird’s annual mating ritual near Milnesand, N.M., April 8, 2021. On Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, the U.S. government added two segments of a rare grouse to ...

“Lesser prairie chickens have already waited nearly 30 years for protection, all the while losing habitat to oil, gas and other development.” Hurricane-prone states The day in pictures Get the ...

Killing a lesser prairie chicken would mean a federal fine and accidental “take” will require “mitigation” to help the species through approved actions to restore bird habitat.

TOPEKA — Entrepreneur and conservationist Wayne Walker says the business of saving the lesser prairie chicken in Kansas required wider commitment to paying market rates to landowners dedicated ...

Conservation banker Wayne Walker is on a mission to preserve lesser prairie chicken habitat. Walker, the principal of Common Ground Capital LLC, said in this case, instead of trying to develop ...

As they do every year, male lesser prairie-chickens gathered this Spring on the 48,000-acre Gardiner Angus Ranch in Ashland, Kansas for their ritual mating dance to attract females.