Landowner Forum Discussing Lesser Prairie-Chicken’s Endangered Species Act Listing

Texas Agricultural Land Trust and the National Ranching Heritage Center will co-host a landowner forum to discuss the recent listing of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken as threatened.

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken is indigenous to the grasslands and prairies of the Texas Panhandle and the Southern High Plains. Its listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act could have serious ramifications for farmers and ranchers in the area.

The species was first listed as threatened in March of 2014 and the Texas Agricultural Land Trust warns that progression to the endangered listing would impose restrictions on how landowners in the region can manage their land, crops and cattle.

The forum will bring together landowners in the region to discuss tools and strategies to help mitigate threats to, and recover, the population of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken.

“There are a number of plans out there that provide for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken recovery,” said Blair Fitzsimons, Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust. “Our goal with the workshop is to present all the relevant strategies and tools so that landowners can make up their own minds if and how they want to engage.”

Topics covered in the forum will include land fragmentation and its impact on water, wildlife and other natural resources, using conservation easement as a tool for Lesser Prairie-Chicken recovery, mitigating the impacts of oil and gas for Lesser Prairie-Chicken recovery and grazing management for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken. To view the full agenda visit TALT’s website.

The forum will take place on September 11, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock. To register, call 210-569-6972.