Critter under controversy: should lesser prairie chicken be "threatened"?

Listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species could protect its habitat and save the bird from extinction, say supporters. And that’s their side. Opponents of the proposal, on the other hand, fear infringement of property rights. One of them, Evertt Harrel, ranches cattle on a Yoakum County farm that’s belonged to his family for about 100 years. He told A-J Media he’s concerned about what would happen to the property if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moves forward with the proposal. “We could possibly go out of business,” he said. “If it’s listed as threatened, we won’t have that authority anymore. It would seriously diminish our ability to operate as we have.” The service will make a final decision in March as to whether to list the species as threatened, said Lesli Gray, a spokeswoman for the agency. The lesser prairie chicken has been described as a candidate for the listing since 1998, meaning officials are eyeing its numbers and considering advancing it to “threatened” status. Under the Endangered Species Act, threatened species are in less immediate danger of extinction than those with “endangered” status. Their populations are dwindling rapidly enough, however, to warrant some extra attention than non-threatened species. “Based on what we have observed, it’s a species that’s likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future,” Gray said. A decision was originally scheduled for December, but a recently granted six-month extension will prolong it. Along with Texas, its range occupies portions of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Jay Adams, who maintains about 500 acres in Yoakum County, said he feels land restrictions on the bird’s territory would be government overreach. He compared the lesser prairie chicken to the Northern spotted owl, whose “threatened” status in the 1990s hindered logging practices in its Pacific Northwest habitat. “That these people would take this so far as to impoverish an entire region is reality,” he said. “...The spotted owl thing didn’t end well. The whole Northwest was impoverished, and then we found out it was going away anyway because of a natural predator.”...more