Moran, Kansas GOP colleagues criticize USFWS endangered ruling for grouse species

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) recently joined two of his home-state GOP colleagues in releasing a bicameral statement opposing recent action by the Biden administration to list the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act.

“This decision threatens to place unnecessary restrictions on farmers, ranchers, and energy producers,” Sen. Moran Moran said in the Nov. 17 statement. 

“The choice to list the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened despite voluntary, locally driven conservation efforts will negatively impact critical industries in Kansas and will remove any incentive for similar local efforts for wildlife conservation in the future,” added the senator, who was joined by U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann (R-KS) in denouncing the final rule issued on Nov. 17 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

While historical estimates suggest lesser prairie-chickens once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, across nearly 100 million acres, populations have declined drastically due to habitat loss and fragmentation, according to the USFWS, which last week said in its ruling that the lesser prairie-chicken habitat has diminished across its historical range by about 90 percent.

Sen. Moran and his colleagues disputed that data, however.

“Kansas and surrounding states are committed to preserving the lesser prairie-chicken and its habitat area and have contributed millions of public and private dollars to conservation efforts,” Sen. Moran said. “This work has resulted in successfully conserving habitat areas and increasing the population of the bird.” 

Sen. Marshall called the USFWS ruling “disappointing,” while Rep. Mann said it is “another example of federal overreach.”