“Green groups have for years used the Endangered Species Act as a tool to restrict land development and the extraction
of oil and gas”

by E.F. Ferraro

July 8, 2021

According to our Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), “the lesser prairie-chicken is a Tier 1 species of greatest conservation need in our State Wildlife Action Plan”. According to the CPW’s website, “the lesser prairie-chicken is an umbrella species, meaning that conservation efforts to protect them also protect their habitat and the other species that rely on it. Grasslands have been in decline for decades, suffering degradation from factors like agriculture and the dust bowl. These ecosystems support species like burrowing owls, ferruginous hawks, swift foxes, and other grassland birds such as the lSo why did the prairie- chickens come home to roost? Apparently to shut down oil and gas development in Colorado. Witness how the Biden Administration is reviving an Obama Administration effort to list the prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act to further restrict energy development in Colorado and elsewhere.
Last month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed a regulation to list the bird as either threatened or endangered, depending on the region. More than 95% of the chicken’s range falls across Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, a range of more than 621,000 square miles. Conveniently the range overlaps with the Permian Basin the most productive oil and gas shale field in the U.S. Accordingly, Green groups have for years used the Endangered Species Act as a tool to restrict land development and the extraction of oil and gas within it.

Agencies reported that the chicken’s population grew from an estimated 18,142 in 2014 to 34,408 in less than six years.

In 2015, a federal judge blocked the Obama prairie-chicken endangered listing because the administration had not sufficiently considered alternatives to protect the bird’s habitat. Businesses and state and federal regulators had already agreed to a plan in support of conservation, which gave landowners flexibility to manage their property and compensation for improving the bird’s habitat. Oil and gas companies have since contributed more than $60 million to a compensation fund. Thought not perfect, the plan seems to have been working. In 2020, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies reported that the chicken’s population grew from an estimated 18,142 in 2014 to 34,408 in less than six years. Environmental groups were not impressed and sued the government. The Biden Administration has listened to their call and agreed to re-list the bird, which has the capacity to restrict new energy development of up to 21 million acres, or about 3,2812 square miles, roughly the combined square miles of Delaware and Rhode Island!

So, while the CDP is “charged with balancing the conservation of our wildlife and habitat with the recreational needs (emphasis added) of Colorado. Affirming that mission, The Future Generations Act passed in 2018 provides specific goals designed to help us achieve that balance”. The agency claims its “mission is critical and relevant to all Coloradans, and we need the support of all Coloradans in fulfilling this critical work”. Of course, the word, all Coloradans really means, feel-good environmental activists and greenies. Farmers, ranchers, and land owners are left holding the bag funding “that balance” so Biff and Buffy can spend a couple of days in the wilderness to go hiking and biking while counting chickens.
There is no apparent reason to list the lesser prairie-chicken other than appease the greenies and green lobbyists, and their collective desire to use every regulation possible to stop development.
Joe Biden promised that he wouldn’t ban oil and gas fracking, but his Administration plans to restrict it by taking small incremental steps while unleashing a regulatory onslaught. Sadly, their use of the lesser prairie-chicken is nothing more than a vehicle to fulfill their recreational needs, and their precious green agenda. But you will know when they come for you. They’ll arrive in an EV eating avocado toast while sipping imported bottled water from Fuji. Once out of their eco-car they’ll inform you that you must allow them to count your chickens so that together, “we can save the planet”.