Colorado’s lesser prairie-chicken population has fallen from more than 80,000 birds in 1975 to just 89 breeding males, according to a 2024 data.
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population → fall → data
To restore the population of the critically threatened grassland bird, nearly 2,100 acres of land in the state’s southeastern plains have now been acquired.
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acres → restore → plains
The Southern Plains Land Trust bought the former private ranch in August for just under $2 million through grants and donations, Rocky Mountain PBS reported.
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PBS → buy → grants
The property is in Kiowa County and lies next to the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.
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property → lie → Site
The land trust will work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to restore the property.
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trust → work → property
Work is expected to begin next winter or spring, with the aim of allowing the grassland to recover and restoring key plant species needed by lesser prairie-chickens.
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grassland → expect → chickens
A lek is a traditional breeding ground where male birds gather during mating season to display and compete for mates.
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birds → gather → mates
Habitat loss has reduced the population
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loss → reduce → population
Henry Pollock, an ecologist, conservation biologist and executive director of the Southern Plains Land Trust, said habitat loss and overgrazing have played a major role in the species’ decline.
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loss → say → decline
“The lesser prairie-chickens are declining rapidly.
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chickens → decline → ?
A lot of that is due to habitat loss and also overgrazing on remaining grassland,” Pollock said.
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Pollock → remain → grassland
“By letting the land rest and recover a little bit and restoring some of these key grass species for breeding, we hope that they will recolonise naturally, although there is the possibility that we could do a translocation in the future,” he added.
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he → let → future
They weigh between one and two pounds.
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They → weigh → pounds
During mating season, males inflate air sacs in their necks, making their reddish or orange patches more noticeable to females.
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patches → inflate → females
The birds live in the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion, which stretches across southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas and a small part of western Oklahoma.
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which → live → Oklahoma
CPW lists habitat loss and fragmentation, energy development, agriculture and grazing, and climate change among the threats to the species.
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CPW → list → species
Habitat loss has also left the birds living in scattered areas.
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loss → leave → areas
Pollock said some breeding habitat has been grazed away, including the grasses and smaller habitats used by the birds for nesting.
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habitat → say → nesting
“The lesser prairie-chickens, over a long period of time, some of their breeding habitat has kind of been grazed off the landscape.
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some → graze → landscape
That includes bunch grasses and little micro habitats for where they have their nest,” Pollock said.
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Pollock → include → nest
The new property is expected to provide an area where grassland can recover and habitat can be restored close to an existing breeding site.
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habitat → expect → site
CPW has used translocation to help the birds
CPW hasalso carried out translocation projects, moving lesser prairie-chickens from one area to another. From 2016 through 2019, CPW worked with Kansas to move 411 birds from the Short-Grass Prairie in northwestern Kansas to the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion.
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CPW → use → Ecoregion
The birds were released at the Comanche National Grasslands in Colorado and the Cimarron National Grasslands in southwestern Kansas.
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birds → release → Kansas
The project produced early signs of success.
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project → produce → success
One year after it ended, the relocated birds had established 20 leks across the two sites.
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birds → end → sites
There were 115 males and an estimated population of about 250 birds in total, according to wildlife biologist Jonathan Reitz, who worked on the project.
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who → be → project
“At the end of the day, that’s really successful.
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that → ’ → day
If somebody told me at the front end that for every two birds that you move, one is actually going to get established in a population, I would have been ecstatic because these birds are getting moved to an entirely different landscape,” Reitz said.
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Reitz → tell → landscape
However, the population later declined.
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population → decline → ?
Reitz said years of drought in the region contributed to the decline.
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years → say → decline
The project also showed the importance of suitable habitat for the birds after they are moved.
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they → show → birds
Reitz said land needs to be managed properly if conservation efforts are to improve conditions for the species.
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efforts → say → species
You need land that’s going to be managed properly for the chicken,” Reitz said.
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Reitz → need → chicken
“And the reality is if we want those lands managed in a way that’s going to improve things for some of the wildlife species, we’ve got to figure out ways to pay for it.”
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we → want → it
Federal protection changed in 2026
The new preserve comes as the lesser prairie-chicken’s federal protection has changed.
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protection → change → 2026
The US Fish and Wildlife Service removed both the northern and southern distinct population segments from the federal Endangered Species Act list in 2026 in response to a court order.
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Service → remove → order
The southern population had been listed as endangered and the northern population as threatened in 2022.
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population → list → 2022
Despite the removal, Pollock said the species remains the most endangered bird in the Southern Great Plains.
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species → say → Plains
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