Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Texas
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The decline in population size and range of the lesser prairie-chicken throughout its distribution has led to substantive conservation concern. Conservation Reserve Program lands are known to provide habitat for the species at the northern extent of its distribution, but different grass species and weather patterns at the southern extent of the distribution may not provide the same habitat benefits. Lesser prairie-chickens have been an focus of contentious debate regarding conservation and legal protections, especially in context of the rapid development of energy facilities across their distribution. We are conducting this research in collaboration with personnel from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Texas Tech University. If Conservation Reserve Program lands in the southern extent of the species distribution provides satisfactory habitat for the species, it provides additional management options and opportunities for state, federal, and private land and wildlife management entities.