Kansas lesser prairie chicken loses endangered species act protections after Texas court order

Oklahoma lesser prairie chicken loses endangered species act protections after Texas court order

Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken, which resides in Kansas' grasslands, were removed after petroleum and agricultural industries challenged those protections in court. (Photo by Greg Kramos/USFWS)TOPEKA — The lesser prairie chicken, a dancing grouse that has long teetered between threatened and endangered classifications, lost its federal protections in court in a victory for Great Plains petroleum and cattle indu…

Kansas lesser prairie chicken loses endangered species act protections after Texas court order

Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken, which resides in Kansas' grasslands, were removed after petroleum and agricultural industries challenged those protections in court. (Greg Kramos/USFWS)TOPEKA — The lesser prairie chicken, a dancing grouse that has long teetered between threatened and endangered classifications, lost its federal protections in court in a victory for Great Plains petroleum and cattle industries. I…

Kansas oil, agriculture industries freed from illegal Biden-era prairie chicken endangered species order

A Biden-era endangered species designation that critics said would hamstring American energy and agricultural production has been struck down by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge David Counts of Texas this week overturned the Biden U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2022 listing of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. “Fish and Wildlife Service,” says one news report, “admitted in the case that it erred in creating two dis…

Kansas wins federal court victory in prairie chicken litigation – Newstalk KZRG

TOPEKA – (Aug. 15, 2025) – The lesser prairie chicken will not be listed as a threatened or endangered species, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced today. A U.S. District Court judge in the Western District of Texas ruled on Aug. 12 that a Biden-era U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened or endangered species was unlawful. Kobach stated: “During the campaign of 2022, after the Biden A…

UPDATED: Judge agrees to set aside protections for lesser prairie chicken

(Updated to include comments from Livestock Association, Sierra Club, Congressman Tracey Mann with more details from the court ruling) For the second time in a decade, environmental protections for the lesser prairie chicken have been lifted following a federal judge's order in Texas earlier this week. U.S. District Judge David Counts agreed to a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to vacate a 2022 decision to give the bird - known f…