Fish and Wildlife Service Grant Request on Lesser Prairie-Chicken Extension

The Fish and Wildlife Service has yielded to a group of congressmen who requested an extension on the Lesser Prairie-Chicken being placed on the threatened species list.

Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) received notice today from the FWS that his request for an extension on placing the Lesser Prairie-Chicken to the threatened species list until March 30^th of 2014 was granted.

“This is a good result for all the local communities and landowners that are working hard to implement local solutions to protect the Prairie-Chicken.  

The efforts of the folks living and working on the affected lands have shown that we don’t need Washington bureaucrats stepping in and making a decision based on bad science and backroom deals with environmental groups,” Thornberry said.  

“I hope that with this extra time, the Fish and Wildlife Service will take a serious look at those efforts and make the right decision.”

Eight other congressmen from the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, including Lubbock Congressman Randy Neugebauer, sent letters to the FWS earlier this week urging the agency make the extension.

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken can be found in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Despite having faced record droughts over the last several years, the Prairie-Chicken population is on the rise or holding steady in some parts of the country.