Congress votes to cut protections for lesser prairie chicken nearly extinct in New Mexico

A controversial decision by the federal government to list the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species could be rescinded by a Republican-led initiative passed by Congress, although President Joe Biden said he would veto the bill if it made it to his desk.

The lesser prairie chicken, a grouse species native to the plains of southeast New Mexico and West Texas, was deemed endangered November 2022 as its population dwindled to near extinction.

That applied to the species’ southern distinct population segment (DPS) in the Permian Basin region.

More: What ranchers in eastern New Mexico are doing to save an iconic but struggling bird

A northern DPS stretching into Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and northern Texas was listed as threatened, meaning conditions could soon warrant an endangered listing.

The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saw immediate backlash from oil and gas industry groups and their supporters, arguing the listing would restrict development in the region known for heavy fossil fuel operations, farming and ranching.

This could imperil the economies of communities reliant on oil and gas, critics warned, by placing undue burdens on industry.

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These complaints were contained in a resolution seeking to rollback the listing under the Congressional Review Act, introduced in the Senate in February and passed on a 50-48 vote in May.

The resolution then passed the House on a 221-206 vote July 27.

U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) voted against the measure, while U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), whose southern Second Congressional District covers most of New Mexico’s oil and gas region, voted in favor of the resolution.

Vasquez argued the listing could impede renewable energy projects in his district, and explained his vote was intended to respond to concerns from private landowners and ranchers in southern New Mexico.

He said drought, not development, was "the most pressing concern" to the survival of the lesser prairie chicken, and would take action to improve water availability in southeast New Mexico.

"That is why we must focus on addressing climate change, including water security, which would provide the most viable solution for our endangered species in the Chihuahuan Desert," Vasquez said. "I strongly support the Endangered Species Act, but we should never rush to decisions without having local input.

He also pointed to voluntary agreements between landowners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, known as "candidate conservation agreements" that see landowners take on conservation practices for the bird and in exchange avoid restrictions amid a listing.

"We must come to better agreements that take into account local economies, our rural ways of life, and the conservation objectives we’re all trying to collectively achieve," Vasquez said.

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Environmental groups were critical of Congress’ passage of the resolution, arguing efforts to rescind the chicken’s listing and another resolution to delist the long-eared bat also passed by the House, put industry ahead of the environment.

Michael Robinson with the Center for Biological Diversity in Silver City said the House vote was “disgusting” and would all but guarantee the iconic lesser prairie chicken’s extinction.

“Our perspective, and it's very clear from the science, is that the lesser prairie chicken is on a path to extinction,” Robinson said. "Its habitat is disappearing and getting fragmented. It’s disgusting that congress would vote to remove the lesser prairie chicken from Earth.”

More: Environmental groups defend lesser prairie chicken's federal protections in New Mexico

Robinson said industries like oil and gas and agriculture have long devastated the chicken’s habitat, and the few remaining suitable areas where it can dwell, and breed, continued to be threatened by climate change and industrial development.

“The lesser prairie chicken has been subject to habitat loss for a long time," he said. “With the oil and gas boom, the areas that are still relatively amenable to the lesser prairie chicken are getting eliminated as well. It’s time for industry to make a little room for this bird.

“We need to transition away from oil and gas immediately, and the first places to be protected are those still suitable for species like the lesser prairie chicken.”

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Raena Garcia, senior fossil fuel and lands campaigner at Friends of the Earth said the resolution if signed into law would undermine the Endangered Species Act after decade of success in saving species across the U.S.

“Once again, Republicans are sacrificing critical species for political gain. There’s no scientific basis for removing protections for the lesser prairie chicken and long eared bat, and any attempt to do so is nonsensical and unethical,” Garcia said

The resolution’s House sponsor U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kansas) said the listing was a government overreach that “threatened” rural communities and the agriculture industry they depend on.

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“My resolution pushes back on an unnecessary and burdensome regulation that threatens the livelihoods of people in rural America,” he said in a statement following the House’s passage.

“Farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers are the original conservationists, and the federal government must get out of their way and let them do what they do best.”

Lesser prairie chicken nearing extinction in New Mexico

After passing both chambers of Congress, the bill was sent for consideration to President Joe Biden who said in May upon the Senate’s passage that he would veto the bill.

More: Lesser prairie chicken could see protections via renewable energy projects in New Mexico

“Overturning common-sense protections for the lesser prairie chicken would undermine America’s proud wildlife conservation traditions, risk the extinction of a once-abundant American bird, and create uncertainty for landowners and industries who have been working for years to forge the durable, locally led conservation strategies that this rule supports,” read a May 3 statement from the White House.

On the ground in eastern New Mexico, Wayne Walker, chief executive officer of conservation bank company LPC Conservation said regardless of the listing status of the bird, landowners are already working to adapt to conservation needs in the region.

The lesser prairie chicken was believed to once number in the millions throughout the American West, but today’s population could be as low as 1,500 birds in New Mexico.

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That rapid decline was evidence, Walker said, that government programs were not working and that his business model was the answer to save the species.

Conservation banking establishes partnerships between landowners and federal land managers, allowing the banks to sell credits to the landowners in exchange for conservation practices, using a market-based pay structure.

Walker said it’s the best solution to establishing expansive ranges of lands known as strongholds set aside for the chicken to grow in population, and that the practice and LPC Conservation’s plans will remain in effect regardless of the listing.

“If you’re out there on the ground, and talking to ranchers, it’s not a good picture. The birds are losing ground,” Walker said. “We all need to rally around programs that are going to work.”

As for the vote, Walker said politics should not be allowed to interfere with conservation of species like the prairie chicken, which would in-turn restore the environment it needs to recover.

“It’s not really about the chicken. It’s about the government,” he said of the House vote. “The bird just happens to be the tool they can use to voice their frustration.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Congress votes to cut lesser prairie chicken protection in New Mexico