TOPEKA — The Trump administration is attempting to strike protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a bird that has teetered between threatened and endangered for decades.
The administration argued in a May 7 court filing that a Biden-era ruling granting protections for the lesser prairie chicken contained mistakes when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified two distinct populations of the bird.
The filing alleges the USFWS improperly applied policy when determining whether the lesser prairie chicken should be listed under the Endangered Species Act, which “amounts to a serious substantive defect because it calls into question the very foundation of the listing decision.”
The lesser prairie chicken forages on the grasslands and brush of southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma and the panhandle and south plains of Texas. Those lands are also viewed as prime cattle-grazing and oil and gas drilling areas.
In the bird’s southern range in New Mexico and the southwest Texas Panhandle, it is listed as endangered. In it’s northern range of Kansas, Oklahoma and the northeast Texas panhandle, it’s threatened, a lesser listing but still affording some protections. Experts and politicians have argued that the lesser prairie chicken serves as an indicator species, signaling the health of grasslands and prairies.
In 2023, then-President Joe Biden vetoed legislation from Kansas Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran that would reverse its status as a threatened species. Again in 2025, U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann and Marshall introduced legislation in each chamber to delist the lesser prairie chicken and prevent any future efforts to relist the species. Neither bill has progressed.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which has been advocating for protections for 30 years, said the lesser prairie chicken has been left in jeopardy. The center renewed an attempt to intervene in the case and opposed the Trump administration’s move.
“The Trump administration is again capitulating to the fossil fuel industry, ignoring sound science and common sense, and dooming an imperiled species to extinction,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the center’s Climate Law Institute.
The Endangered Species Act, passed and enacted in 1973, restricts certain uses, including drilling and ranching, on lands that are habitats to endangered or threatened species. The Trump administration’s court filing argued that the lesser prairie chicken’s habitat is adequately protected without the listing. It is served by “at least sixteen different conservation efforts and programs administered by state, federal, and private entities,” the filing said.
Rylander said there’s “no question” the lesser prairie chicken is imperiled.
“Removing Endangered Species Act protections is a purely political act that won’t stand up in court,” he said. “We won’t let this administration drive species to extinction so fossil fuel billionaires and their shareholders can make a buck.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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