Lesser Prairie Chicken endangered listing vacated

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — A Texas Judge from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas Midland/Odessa Division has ruled this week that the Lesser Prairie Chicken is to lose its endangered species designation.

Previously reported on MyHighPlains.com, the lesser prairie chicken’s range covers a portion of the Permian Basin along the New Mexico-Texas state line and extends into parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. According to court documents, the most recent motion came roughly a week before the summary judgment deadline.

Court documents state that on May 7, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service moved for vacatur and remand of the rule listing the Lesser Prairie Chicken as endangered and threatened and argued there was a serious, foundational defect in the final rule.

The court denied Energy and Wildlife Action Coalition, the Industry plaintiffs, and the LPC Conservation’s efforts to keep the animal under the listing and granted Fish and Wildlife’s motion to vacate and remand the final rule.

Court documents detail that the Fish and Wildlife first listed the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2014, and the rule was challenged by multiple groups, which led the court to vacate the listing in 2015.

In 2016, Fish and Wildlife received a new petition to list the animal as endangered throughout its range or, in three Distinct Population Segments. Fish and Wildlife then published a 90-day finding concluding that the petitioned action may be warranted. The Lesser Prairie Chicken was officially listed under the ESA on Nov. 25, 2022, specifically the Northern (DPS) as threatened and the Southern DPS as endangered. Court documents stated that State Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the final listing rule in March 2023, and Industry Plaintiffs filed suit thereafter.

Documents state that after the change in federal administration in January 2025, Fish and Wildlife now believes it erred in applying the DPS policy and did not provide a sufficient justification that the two population segments of the lesser prairie-chicken are significant for identifying a DPS.

Because of this error, Fish and Wildlife believes it warranted an immediate vacatur of the listing decision, which the court granted. Documents also state that both population segments were significant because of the loss of the Southern population segment would result in a significant gap in the range of the species in the final listing rule. However, Fish and Wildlife now believes that conclusion was wrong because it did not consider whether the gap in the range would “actually be significant” for the species.

Fish and Wildlife, according to documents, anticipates that by Nov. 30, 2026, it will complete a new finding on the 2016 listing petition that gave rise to the final rule.