On July 9, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) announced the results of its latest annual lesser prairie chicken breeding population survey, which showed an increase of about 30 percent over the previous year. Observers counted 38,637 lesser prairie chickens compared to 29,934 the previous year. The survey shows annual gains of about 3,000 birds since 2013, when major drought conditions began to subside across the bird’s native range, which includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.
“The most encouraging result from the survey is the increasing population trend over the past six years, which likely reflects improving habitat conditions,” said Roger Wolfe, the WAFWA’s lesser prairie chicken program coordinator.
In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened.” A…
