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Lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) | ESA status: under review

Lesser prairie chicken

Lesser prairie chickens are endearing little grouse that inhabit shinnery oak and sand sagebrush grasslands in the southern Great Plains. Although comparable in morphology, plumage, and behavior to greater prairie chickens (T. cupido), lesser prairie chickens are smaller and have distinctive courtship displays and vocalizations.

Lesser prairie chicken courtship

Like other western grouse, male lesser prairie chickens engage in a communal breeding display each spring to attract females. Both males and females congregate at breeding grounds known as “leks” where the males strut, vocalize (“boom”), and physically confront other males to defend their territories and court females. Males may display their bright yellow eye combs, inflate their red air sacs, flutter-jump, cackle, and stamp their feet.

What are the threats to the lesser prairie chicken?

The lesser prairie chicken’s range has declined by more than 90 percent and its population is among the smallest of North American grouse, variously estimated between 10,000 to more than 50,000 birds (though some experts have warned that fewer than 10,000 individuals may remain). Habitat loss and degradation from livestock grazing, agriculture, oil and gas extraction, wind energy production, herbicides, unnatural fire, and fire suppression are primary threats to the species. Habitat fragmentation from fences and power lines and disturbance from roads, mining, and other activities also affect the birds.

What WildEarth Guardians is doing to preserve the lesser prairie chicken

The lesser prairie chicken was a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act for more than a decade. We sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formally list the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Act to support recovery of the species. We also successfully led a broad coalition to create a Bureau of Land Management “Area of Critical Environmental Concern” to protect key habitat for lesser prairie chickens on public land in New Mexico. In 2014, the lesser prairie chicken was listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, but was then almost immediately delisted due to a court order. We submitted a new scientific petition to list the species in 2016 that incorporates the most recent science. We received a positive 90-day finding on that petition and are pushing the Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward in the listing process.

Guardians and allies submit a scientific petition to emergency list the lesser prairie chicken and three Distinct Population Segments
September 2016

A federal court in Texas vacates the “threatened” listing of the lesser prairie chicken on procedural grounds
August 2014

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened”
April 2014

Guardians submits comments on the revised special rule
February 2014

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases a revised special rule for the lesser prairie chicken
December 2013

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces a 6-month extension on the final listing determination for the lesser prairie chicken
July 2013

WildEarth Guardians comments on the proposed rule
June 2013

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to list the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened”
November 2012

Lesser prairie chicken included in landmark settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
May 2011

WildEarth Guardians sues to protect lesser prairie chicken
August 2010

“Lesser Prairie Chicken: A Decade in Purgatory” (report)
June 2008

“The Sky Really is Falling for the Lesser Prairie Chicken” (report)
November 2004

“Emergency Protections Sought for Imperiled Lesser Prairie Chicken”
September 8, 2016

“Lesser Prairie Chicken Numbers Plummet in 2016”
July 5, 2016

“Unprecedented Loopholes Undermine Endangered Species Act Protections for Lesser Prairie Chicken”
March 27, 2014

“Lesser Prairie Chicken Should be Listed as Endangered”
February 12, 2014

“Feds Propose Blank Check for Lesser Prairie Chicken Habitat Destruction”
December 10, 2013

“Feds Propose Lesser Prairie Chicken for Protection”
November 30, 2012

“Lesser Prairie Chicken in Line for Federal Protection”
November 15, 2011

“Federal Court Approves Historic Species Agreement”
September 9, 2011

“Hope for Endangered Species Act Candidates”
May 10, 2011

“WildEarth Guardians Marks First Passenger Pigeon Day”
September 1, 2010

“State of the Birds’ Report Further Evidence of Need to Protect Western Grouse”
March 20, 2009

“Decade Anniversary of Lesser Prairie Chicken’s Purgatory as Candidate for Protection”
June 10, 2008

“Bureau of Land Management Plan for Imperiled Prairie Chicken and Sand Dune Lizard Falls Short”
November 5, 2007

Bill Syme

Member, Board of Directors

Bill joined the board in 2009. He is the only board member who is a native New Mexican and brings this unique perspective to the deliberations of the board. His love of nature began early in his life with frequent trips to New Mexico and southern Colorado forests and streams, backpacking and fly-fishing with his family. Voyages to the Gila and Pecos made a lasting impression on young Bill leading to the desire to preserve wilderness areas in as pristine a state as possible. He went to college at Stanford university, majoring in biology and chemistry. While there he became involved in outdoor biological research. One summer was spent just outside Yosemite studying chipmunks. The next year he was involved in the student lead Mono Lake study evaluating the effects of water diversions by Los Angeles on the ecology of the lake. The results of this study are still in evidence today with the maintenance of water levels in the lake high enough to preserve the breeding islands of gulls. Currently he works as a general surgeon in Albuquerque, in private practice since 1990 but also involved in teaching residents and medical students from UNM. He continues to have a love for the outdoors and spends time outside hiking, cycling, backpacking, bird watching,skiing,gardening and fly-fishing.

Peter Schoenburg

Member, Board of Directors

Peter is a partner in the Albuquerque law offices of Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dahlstrom, Schoenburg & Bienvenu, LLP. He has practiced criminal defense law in New Mexico since 1978. He received his undergraduate degree at Yale College and his law degree at Rutgers School of Law. A former Federal and State Public Defender, as well as an Assistant Attorney General, since 1993 Peter has worked in private practice defending complex criminal cases in both Federal and State courts. He also regularly represents Native Americans charged with illegal possession of feathers in connection with their religious practices. He has been continuously listed in The Best Lawyers in America - Criminal Defense since 1994. Peter’s love of the wilderness and commitment to its preservation began in his child-hood years in upstate New York. Beginning in law school he worked as an instructor at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine and the, now defunct, Southwest Outward Bound School based in Santa Fe. He is an avid rafter, hiker, skier and cyclist.

Kristina Martinez

Member, Board of Directors

Kristina Martinez was born and raised in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Arizona and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico. Ms. Martinez has practiced law in Santa Fe since 2006. She focuses her practice in the areas of civil rights, general civil litigation, and family law. Kristina serves on the Ethics & Campaign Review Board for the City of Santa Fe as well as the boards of the St. Michael’s High School Foundation and Cooking with Kids. She loves the Santa Fe community and the American Southwest and strives to help preserve and enrich both by serving on the WildEarth Guardians’ board, which she joined in 2015.

Nat Cobb

Member, Board of Directors

Nat Cobb joined the Guardians Board in 2010. He grew exploring the outdoor environments in New Mexico, Colorado, and Pakistan. In the 1970’s he worked for five different Outward Bound schools in diverse environments, including three years directing programs in the Gila Wilderness. He also worked as a river guide on the Grand Canyon and in Dinosaur National Monument. A graduate of Fort Lewis College and Harvard Medical School, he recently retired from the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control, where his work included Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, Research and Epidemiology. He still loves to explore mountains, rivers and deserts by boat, ski, foot, and bicycle. He and his wife actively support and partner with several local farmers in farm-to-table, farm-to-beer mug, and farm-to-wineglass projects. At home on the bank of the Rio Grande in Los Ranchos, NM, he dabbles in native plant landscaping and tries to co-exist with the coyote, geese, beaver, and sandhill cranes who live in his back yard.

Anne Butterfield

Member, Board of Directors

Anne Butterfield, of Boulder CO. After early years spent in a range of of outdoor environments in the east and west, Anne developed a passion for high altitude. Soon after graduating from Occidental College, she grew through expert skiing, Colorado Outward Bound School, search and rescue work, and serving an archeological surveyor for the US Forest Service in New Mexico. Anne then co-managed Adventure 16 in West LA, a 10,000 square-foot outdoor retail store. Returning to Colorado, she completed a Masters in Creative Writing at CU Boulder and served with Colorado’s 20th Judicial District Attorney’s Office as a victim advocate. Then, for seven years she served as an editorial adviser and opinion columnist at the Boulder Daily Camera, where her writing explored Colorado energy policy and informed Boulder voters through three elections leading to the city's decision to separate legally from Xcel Energy. She comes to Guardians also having served on the board of Clean Energy Action, a non-profit dedicated to educating elected officials, regulators, and the public on the risks of our nation relying so heavily on the faltering coal industry. She is an avid pet & wildlife lover and a big fan of renewable energy having learned so much from her husband Sandy who spent his career in wind energy particularly at the National Renewable Energy Laboratories.

Glen Colton

Treasurer, Board of Directors

Glen and his wife have lived in Fort Collins, Colorado since 1979. They have one daughter. Glen has been active in the community for many years, serving on numerous boards and commissions involved with community planning, the environment, open spaces, natural resources, sustainability, and economic health. He has been especially active in population and growth issues at the local, state, and national level. For many years, he wrote a bi-monthly business column for the Fort Collins Coloradoan, focusing on providing an alternative view to the pro-growth bias dominant in the media. Glen worked at Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies in Finance and retired in 2001. He graduated from Wartburg College in Iowa in 1978 with a degree in Accounting and Economics. While growing up in Iowa he developed a passion for the outdoors hiking, fishing, camping, canoeing, and hunting. He also was a three-sport athlete in high school and college, playing football, wrestling, and track. While Glen believes in taking individual action to help achieve sustainability, and protect the environment and wildlife, he believes it is equally important to stabilize population and move our economy to a “steady state” economy not dependent on economic and population growth. When he’s not working on sustainability issues, Glen enjoys fly fishing, biking, hiking, downhill and cross country skiing, gardening, and just being in the outdoors.

Cathy Bailey

Secretary, Board of Directors

Cathy works with young people to connect them with wild places. She is an outdoor and environmental educator of distinction. Cathy has her BA from the University of Texas at Austin, her MA from the University of Texas El Paso, and environmental educator training from the National Outdoor Leadership School. For over 25 years she has been a classroom teacher. Presently, as a science teacher at Albuquerque’s Bosque School, she has built and implemented curriculum based on the landscape at hand. Her students participate in citizen science programs where their research informs habitat management. Each year she spends weeks leading students into wilderness. Cathy has also worked extensively as a lay leader within the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande with youth programs, capital fundraising, and social justice and inclusivity issues. For Cathy, the inseparable goals of a healthy environment and healthy human community are central to her life’s calling. At home in Albuquerque, Cathy’s family, her pair of running dogs, a flock of chickens, a much loved garden, the Sandia Wilderness and the Rio Grande keep her connected to that which matters.

David Will

Vice President, Board of Directors

David was born and raised in the rural Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York. Prior to attending college, David spent summers traveling the United States to study the geology of National Parks during summer field study trips led by his father, an adjunct professor of geology for a local college. His passion for protected spaces and wilderness led him to earn a B.S. in Natural Resources and a M.P.A with an emphasis in public lands protection from Cornell University. During summers between college semesters, David worked as a Park Ranger Naturalist at Rocky Mountain and Grand Teton National Parks, where he shared his passion for natural history with countless visitors exploring Rocky Mountain landscapes. After completing graduate school, David worked for the National Parks Conservation Association and The Wilderness Society before becoming a partner in an education consulting firm. David lives in Durango, Colorado where he finds peace in the mountains and forests of the San Juan Mountains.

Mimsi Milton

President, Board of Directors

Mimsi spent three glorious summers as a teenager at a camp in Estes Park and became hooked on the West. Years later, after many western vacations, she and her husband moved their family to Denver, where they didn't know a soul, and were “home” from day one. Mimsi has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin. As a journalist, she worked with Wolf Blitzer on a national, Middle East newsletter and with Martin Agronsky on his nightly, live PBS show. She was a staff writer for Parent and Child Magazine and The Baltimore Jewish Times and a freelancer for The Washington Post and other publications. Mimsi was Associate Director of Development for the D.C. Sidwell Friends School and Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs for the Kent Denver School in Englewood, Colorado. Following that she owned and operated a gallery of international crafts. Mimsi spends summers in Frisco hiking, biking, gardening, painting and expanding her repertoire of vegan recipes. She serves on the board of CO-Force (Coloradans for Fair Rates and Clean Energy), a non-profit that promotes renewable energy and works to end the use of fossil fuels.

Fernando Moreno-Castillo

Summer Wildlife Outreach Organizer

Fernando Moreno-Castillo was born and raised in Spain and came to the U.S. in 1997 to Portland, OR. He has always been fascinated with large carnivores with a particular fondness for wolves. In 2013 he moved to the heart of the Grand Teton National Park to live and work for one of the park's concessions. It was there that, after a near-spiritual experience tracking wolves through the park in the middle of the winter, he realized that he wanted to make a career change and dedicate the rest of his life to wolf conservation. Fernando is currently working towards getting his B.S in wildlife biology at Oregon State University with the focus on becoming a wolf biologist. Carnivore conservation biology is at the heart of Fernando's career focus. He has been following the Guardian's work for over a year and is honored and excited to join WildEarth Guardians as the Summer Wildlife Outreach Organizer position.

Lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) | ESA status: under review

Lesser prairie chicken

Lesser prairie chicken courtship

What are the threats to the lesser prairie chicken?

What WildEarth Guardians is doing to preserve the lesser prairie chicken

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Bill Syme

Member, Board of Directors

Peter Schoenburg

Member, Board of Directors

Kristina Martinez

Member, Board of Directors

Nat Cobb

Member, Board of Directors

Anne Butterfield

Member, Board of Directors

Glen Colton

Treasurer, Board of Directors

Cathy Bailey

Secretary, Board of Directors

David Will

Vice President, Board of Directors

Mimsi Milton

President, Board of Directors

Fernando Moreno-Castillo

Summer Wildlife Outreach Organizer