The Trump administration ended federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a ground-dwelling bird known for elaborate mating dances on the southern Great Plains, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s delisting decision formalized Thursday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s action followed a federal judge’s ruling in Midland, Texas, which effectively ended Endangered Species Act protections for the bird last summer. The protections had required energy companies and ranchers to take steps to avoid disrupting the bird’s habitat—particularly areas used for mating, known as leks.
The delisting decision comes as habitat loss has shrunk the lesser prairie chicken population to about 30,000 birds across parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, the report said. Wildlife watchers have described the males’ spring displays, including warbling, clucking and stomping, which they perform to attract mates.
The report also said the listing history of the lesser prairie chicken has been shaped by shifting court outcomes and federal determinations. In 2015, a federal judge in Midland reversed the bird’s threatened listing that had been issued the year before, siding with petroleum developers who argued that existing protections were sufficient.
In 2022, the Biden administration listed the lesser prairie chicken as threatened in the northern part of its range in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and as endangered in a separate “distinct population segment” in the south in New Mexico and Texas. The listing prompted a lawsuit from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, along with groups including the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
After President Donald Trump took office last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service reevaluated the bird and agreed with the states and industry groups, according to the report. The administration said the bird lacked justification to be classified into two distinct populations.
The agency’s position was then bolstered by a ruling issued last August in the same Midland, Texas, court, when another judge granted the Fish and Wildlife Service’s motion to reverse the Biden-era listings for the lesser prairie chicken. District Judge David Counts wrote in his Aug. 12 ruling that “Fish and Wildlife’s concession points to serious error at the very foundation of its rule,” a passage praised by Texas officials, the report said.
Texas officials welcomed the delisting, including the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Land Commissioner. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in an emailed statement that the change “will ensure American oil and gas production in the Permian Basin remains robust and our economy steadfast.”
Environmental advocates said they would keep fighting in court. Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said the decision is “shameful” and warned that “Lesser prairie chickens may be lost forever without Endangered Species Act protections,” according to the report.