US wildlife managers propose protections for rare chicken

[left-of-center2012]

U.S. wildlife managers on Wednesday proposed federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, saying its habitat across five states is in danger of becoming more fragmented and the effects of climate change and drought are expected to take a further toll on the species in the future. Once listed as a threatened species, the chicken’s habitat spans parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas -- including a portion of the oil-rich Permian Basin.

Environmentalists have been pushing to reinstate federal protections for years. They consider the species severely threatened, citing lost and fragmented habitat as the result of oil and gas development, livestock grazing, farming and the building of roads and power lines. Federal officials are proposing to list the southern population in eastern New Mexico and the southern reaches of the Texas Panhandle as endangered and those birds in the northern part of the species' range as threatened.

Once thought to number in the millions, federal officials said the five-year average population across
the entire range hovers around 27,000 individual birds.

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R) of Kansas suggested that the proposed listing favors government overreach
and heavy-handed regulation over cooperation with landowners.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-wildlife-managers-propose-protections-rare-chicken-77922405

[Submariner]

1. Prairie chickens, among other endangered/threatened species in red states,

are screwed until the anti-environment party is voted out of office. Conservatives like to say they are for environmental safeguards, but don’t believe what you hear coming their lying mouths for a minute.

[MineralMan]

2. What a beautiful bird!