Prairie chicken action is expected

Complaints from state officials won't stop the federal government from working to protect the lesser prairie chicken, according to Kansas' top wildlife official. Robin Jennison, secretary of the state Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, told a legislative committee that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will either impose a conservation plan across the bird's range or list it as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said the population of the lesser prairie chicken has fallen dramatically as about 90 percent of its range has been taken up by prairies being converted to cropland and other uses. Jennison said the conservation plan would be a better option for Kansas and that listing the bird as a federally threatened species would dramatically impact the state's economy, The Lawrence Journal-World reported. He said the rangewide plan, which has been endorsed by the USFWS, would include programs that would assure landowners that if they improve the bird's habitat they wouldn't be subject to additional restrictions on land management. It would also provide exemptions from fines or prosecution for accidentally injuring or killing birds during landowners' routine practices or activities...more