The Woodward News

Local News

October 7, 2012

LEPC survey may offer some good news

Gary Engel Woodward News

Woodward, Okla. — OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Department of Parks and Wildlife (ODPW) is reporting that there may be bit of good news in a recent wildlife survey.

Numbers determined by a first-ever aerial survey over Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico show some possible increases in the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LEPC) population, said officials with the wildlife department.

According to the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), which led the survey, an estimate of some 37,170 birds were counted across the region.

Oklahoma's population, as of 2011, was estimated at about 3.000, WAFWA Grassland Coordinator Bill Van Pelt said.

But WAFWA is challenging those numbers because of the methodology that was used to conduct the count, he said.

"We are trying to develop a standard process by which the birds are counted by the 4 habitats they live in, rather than limiting the surveys by state lines," said Van Pelt.

WAFWA Secretary Larry Kruckenburg said the survey was conducted by air because the researchers found the prairie chickens were less disturbed that way.



POSITIVE SURVEY POINTS

As research continues for the LEPC to possibly become covered by the federal Endangered Species Act because of consideration that its population is low, several positive points came up in the survey.

"Biologists were encouraged by what they found," Kruckenburg said. "One thing the spring aerial surveys detected were several previously-unknown leks, despite severe drought conditions in the region last year."

Leks are sites to which the LEPC returns for breeding each year.

Kruckenburg went on to say that another encouraging factor was that leks were discovered in Kansas which were considered beyond the historic northern limit of the birds' habitat.

He said researchers have determined that Kansas' population of the LEPC has been increasing over the last 15 years, while the numbers appears to have declined in the southern portion of their range, which would include Oklahoma.

"The biologists think a northward shift in LEPC numbers is being caused by climatic differences associated with changing rainfall patterns," Kruckenburg said.

Van Pelt said that with the many habitat conservation programs that have been introduced through various farm bill measures and landowner conservation agreements entered into with federal wildlife officials in recent years, WAFWA is encouraged about the species' future.

"Our confidence in coming up with a plan to maintain the species has grown," he said.



OPPOSITION TO ENDANGERED CLASSIFICATION

Officials are expecting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision about whether to include the LEPC for an endangered species list sometime in November, WAFWA said.

Several area landowners and representatives of the oil/gas and wind energy industries have expressed opposition to the bird being considered endangered because of several potentially-costly changes they would have to make in managing or developing their properties.

Some of the adjustments would be required to include replacing and marking fences, invasive species control, improved pasture management and planting of native grasses.

Check the final report on the aerial survey at http://www.wafwa.org/html/aerial_surveys.shtml.

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