Latest news with #lesserprairiechicken
New York Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Lesser Prairie Chicken Loses Endangered Species Act Protections
A federal judge has agreed to let the Trump administration remove federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, an imperiled grouse long caught in a tug of war between industry and conservationists. In May, federal officials had filed a court briefing asking for this outcome, arguing that the science behind a Biden-era decision to place the prairie chicken on the endangered species list was deeply flawed. The judge, David Counts of the Western District of Texas, who was nominated by President Trump in 2017, wrote on Tuesday that the recent 'concession' by the Fish and Wildlife Service 'points to serious error at the very foundation' of its earlier decision. Conservationists expressed bitter disappointment. 'The court here simply took the Trump administration at its word and does not appear to have grappled with the science, conservation status or history of this listing at all,' said Jason Rylander, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. He said the Biden administration's decision had been 'carefully considered' and the new ruling 'had everything to do with kowtowing to the oil and gas industry.' The bird's habitat, which sprawls across the southern Great Plains, has been a source of conflict with cattle ranches and oil and gas drilling operations. The leading global scientific authority on the status of species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, classifies the lesser prairie chicken as 'vulnerable' and 'in decline.' The population has decreased in number from perhaps millions to about 30,000 today. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
E&E News
2 days ago
- Politics
- E&E News
Texas judge removes ESA protections from lesser prairie chicken
A Texas-based federal judge assented to a Trump administration request Tuesday and ended Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken. In an unusual ESA plot twist, U.S. District Judge David Counts vacated the Fish and Wildlife Service's 2022 rule determining the animal needs federal protections after the agency itself said it had found a 'serious defect' in the listing. 'Fish and Wildlife's concession points to serious error at the very foundation of its rule,' Counts reasoned in his opinion, adding that 'mere remand would not cure this error.' Advertisement Environmental groups that support continued federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken had urged the judge to keep the 2022 listing in place while FWS tried to fix the alleged problems. 'It's bitterly disappointing to see a federal judge accept the Trump administration's bad faith rationale for stripping the lesser prairie chicken's urgently needed protections,' said Jason Rylander, the legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. Rylander added that 'this ruling has nothing to do with science or the law and everything to do with kowtowing to the oil and gas industry.' FWS has a policy of not commenting on litigation. The agency could not be immediately reached Wednesday afternoon. Counts was nominated by President Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, where the lesser prairie chicken has long roosted in successive rounds of litigation. FWS first listed the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the ESA in 2014. Energy industry groups and others challenged the listing, which was vacated in 2015. Following receipt of another listing petition and further study, FWS in November 2022 listed the northern distinct population segment of the lesser prairie chicken as threatened and the southern population of the species as endangered. The state of Texas joined with industry groups including the Permian Basin Petroleum Association in filing suit against the ESA determination. 'Following the change in federal administration in January 2025, Fish and Wildlife re-evaluated [the challengers'] claims,' Counts observed, adding that 'Fish and Wildlife now believes it erred … and did not provide a sufficient justification' for the division into two distinct population segments. Counts further declared that the federal agency 'commits no handwaving when it also concedes that this failure causes the Final Listing Rule to be 'unlawful'' and therefore subject to being entirely wiped off the books. The lesser prairie chicken's full range extends across parts of five states. The 2022 listing identified the southern segment as extending from New Mexico to West Texas, while the northern population spanned Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. FWS identified the primary threats in both segments as 'loss of large, connected blocks of grassland and shrubland habitat,' with the southern population facing higher risk of extinction due to the region's hotter climate and vulnerability to prolonged drought. As such, the law places tighter restrictions on activities within the southern population segment than the northern segment. In a previous court filing, the Trump administration said that local conservation efforts would be sufficient to protect the species while a new ESA listing petition and review process was underway. Conservation groups disagree. They blasted the judge's decision, saying it all but dooms the bird. 'Removing protections for the lesser prairie chicken would be devastating news and would effectively sign an extinction warrant for the species,' Andrew Carter, director of conservation policy at Defenders of Wildlife, said in an emailed statement. 'As a bird that once numbered in the millions, it is now down to a fraction of that amount, having lost about 90 percent of its habitat.'
New York Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Officials Ask Court to End Protections for a Strutting, Showy Bird
The Trump administration has moved to end federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a showy grouse with the misfortune of inhabiting southern and central grasslands long sought-after for agriculture and energy development. In a court filing on Wednesday, officials said the Fish and Wildlife Service had erred in a Biden-era decision that placed the bird on the endangered species list. It's the latest in a blur of actions by the White House seeking to weaken or eliminate environmental regulations that constrain President Trump's 'drill, baby, drill' agenda. And it's the latest twist for a species whose fate has been fought over for three decades. Lesser prairie chickens — known for the males' quirky courtship displays of stamping, fanning their tail feathers and 'flutter jumping' — have declined from historic estimates of hundreds of thousands or even millions to only about 30,000 today. Habitat loss is the main culprit. In the filing, in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, officials said they expected to re-evaluate the bird's status by Nov. 30, 2026. Although the species would lack federal protections under the Endangered Species Act in the interim, the motion stated that 'at least sixteen different conservation efforts and programs administered by state, federal, and private entities exist that benefit the lesser prairie chicken.' But conservationists said the Fish and Wildlife Service would be under no obligation to reconsider the species on that timeline and predicted that they would have to sue to make it happen. 'The Trump administration is again capitulating to the fossil fuel industry, ignoring sound science and common sense, and dooming an imperiled species to extinction,' Jason Rylander, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. 'Removing Endangered Species Act protections is a purely political act that won't stand up in court,' he continued. His group has intervened in the case. As far back as 1998, federal wildlife officials found that the lesser prairie chicken merited protection, but initially said other species were a higher priority. Later, the bird bounced on and then off the list of threatened and endangered species, caught up in lawsuits. In 2022, under President Biden, lesser prairie chickens were again protected. That decision divided the species into two distinct populations, categorizing the southern one (in eastern New Mexico and Southwest Texas) as endangered and the northern one (in central and western Kansas, central Oklahoma and the northeast panhandle of Texas) as threatened, a less imperiled finding that still affords some protections. The petroleum and ranching industries sued in 2023, as did the states of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. Now the Trump Administration is arguing that the Fish and Wildlife Service was mistaken in assessing the species as distinct populations, and that doing so 'taints the very foundation' of the decision to list it. The leading global scientific authority on the status of species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, classifies the lesser prairie chicken as vulnerable, akin to the U.S. listing of threatened. Mr. Rylander with the Center for Biological Diversity said he planned to file an opposition to the federal motion in the coming days. The fight over the lesser prairie chicken is taking place as scientists warn that the planet is facing levels of biodiversity loss that are unprecedented in human history. Temperate grasslands are among the world's most imperiled ecosystems.
