Lankford Disappointed in Proposal to List Lesser Prairie Chicken as Threatened

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued a statement after the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to list the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act:

“For Oklahoma farmers and ranchers who have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars in voluntary conservation efforts to keep the lesser prairie chicken off the endangered or threatened list, today was a painful reminder of the need to reform the Federal Endangered Species Act. The lesser prairie chicken has continued to increase in population and expand its habitat, which makes it completely unnecessary to propose it as a threatened species. The goal should be to recover an animal population, not to keep expanding the control of the Fish and Wildlife Service over more and more areas of the country. If the species is already recovering through voluntary conservation, why would a federal agency need to manage our land and economic development?”  

Lankford sent a letter last week urging Secretary Haaland against listing the lesser prairie chicken. 

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