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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
initial conversion of smaller patches of grassland to cultivation may have been temporarily beneficial to the short-term needs of the species as primitive and inefficient agricultural practices made grain available as a food source Rodgers 2016, p. 18. However, as conversion increased, it became clear that landscapes having greater than 20 to 37
percent cultivated grains may not support stable lesser prairie-chicken populations Crawford and Bolen 1976a, p. 102. More recently, abundances of lesser prairie-chicken increased with increasing cropland until a threshold of 10 percent was reached; after that, abundance of lesser prairie-chicken declined with increasing cropland cover Ross et al. 2016b, entire. While lesser prairie-chicken may forage in agricultural croplands, croplands do not provide for the habitat requirements of the species life cycle cover for nesting and thermoregulation; thus, lesser prairie-chicken avoid landscapes dominated by cultivated agriculture, particularly where small grains are not the dominant crop Crawford and Bolen 1976a, p. 102.
As part of the geospatial analysis completed for the SSA, we estimated the amount of cropland that currently exists in the four ecoregions of the lesser prairie-chicken. These percentages do not equate to the actual proportion of habitat loss in the analysis area because not all of the analysis area was necessarily suitable lesser prairiechicken habitat; they are only the estimated portion of the total analysis area converted from the native vegetation community to cropland.
About 37 percent of the total area in the Short-Grass/CRP Ecoregion; 32 percent of the total area in the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion; 13 percent of the total area in the Mixed-Grass Ecoregion; and 14
percent of the total area in the Shinnery Oak Ecoregion of grassland have been converted to cropland in the analysis area of the lesser prairie-chicken.
Rangewide, we estimate about 4,963,000
ac 2,009,000 ha of grassland have been converted to cropland, representing about 23 percent of the total analysis area. We note that these calculations do not account for all conversion that has occurred within the historical range of the lesser prairie-chicken but are limited to the amount of cropland within our analysis area. For further information, including total acreages impacted, see the SSA report for the lesser prairiechicken Service 2021 Appendix E and Figure E.1.
The effects of grassland converted to cropland within the historical range of the lesser prairie-chicken have significantly impacted the amount of
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habitat available and how fragmented the remaining habitat is for the lesser prairie-chicken, leading to overall decreases in resiliency and redundancy throughout the range of the lesser prairie-chicken. The impact of cropland has shaped the historical and current condition of the grasslands and shrublands upon which the lesser prairie-chicken depends.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Production Petroleum and natural gas production has occurred over much of the estimated historical and current range of the lesser prairie-chicken. As demand for energy has continued to increase nationwide, so has oil and gas development in the Great Plains. In Texas, for example, active oil and gas wells in the lesser prairie-chicken occupied range have increased by more than 80 percent over the previous decade Timmer et al.
2014, p. 143. The impacts from oil and gas development extend beyond the immediate well sites; they involve activities such as surface exploration, exploratory drilling, field development, and facility construction, as well as access roads, well pads, and operation and maintenance. Associated facilities can include compressor stations, pumping stations, and electrical generators.
Petroleum and natural gas production result in both direct and indirect habitat effects to the lesser prairie-chicken Hunt and Best 2004, p. 92. Well pad construction, seismic surveys, access road development, power line construction, pipeline corridors, and other activities can all result in direct habitat loss by removal of vegetation used by lesser prairie-chickens. As documented in other grouse species, indirect habitat loss also occurs from avoidance of vertical structures, noise, and human presence Weller et al. 2002, entire, which all can influence lesser prairie-chicken behavior in the general vicinity of oil and gas development areas. These activities also disrupt lesser prairie-chicken reproductive behavior Hunt and Best 2004, p. 41.
Anthropogenic features, such as oil and gas wells, affect the behavior of lesser prairie-chickens and alter the way in which they use the landscape Hagen et al. 2011, pp. 6973; Pitman et al.
2005, entire; Hagen 2010, entire; Hunt and Best 2004, pp. 99104; Plumb et al.
2019, pp. 224227; Sullins et al. 2019, pp. 58; Peterson et al. 2020, entire.
Please see the SSA report for a detailed summary of the best available scientific information regarding avoidance distances and effects of oil and gas development on lesser prairie-chicken habitat use Service 2021, pp. 2728.

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As part of the geospatial analysis discussed in the SSA report, we calculated the amount of usable land cover for the lesser prairie-chicken that has been impacted both direct and indirect impacts by oil and natural gas wells in the current analysis area of the lesser prairie-chicken, though this analysis did not include all associated infrastructure as those data were not available. We used an impact radius of 984 ft 300 m for indirect effects of oil and gas wells. These calculations were limited to the current analysis area and do not include historical impacts of habitat loss that occurred outside of the current analysis area. Thus, the calculation likely underestimates the rangewide effects of historical oil and gas development on the lesser prairiechicken. About 4 percent of the total area in the Short-Grass/CRP Ecoregion;
5 percent of the total area in the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion; about 10 percent of the total area in the Mixed-Grass Ecoregion; and 4 percent of the total area in the Shinnery Oak Ecoregion of space that was identified as potential usable or potential restorable areas have been impacted due to oil and gas development in the current analysis area of the lesser prairie-chicken.
Rangewide, we estimate about 1,433,000
ac 580,000 ha of grassland have been lost due to oil and gas development representing about 7 percent of the total analysis area. Maps of these areas in each ecoregion are provided in the SSA
report Service 2021, Appendix E, Figure E.2.
Oil and gas development directly removes habitat that supports lesser prairie-chicken, and the effects of the development extend past the immediate site of the wells and their associated infrastructure, further impacting habitat and altering behavior of lesser prairiechicken throughout both the Northern and the Southern DPS. These activities have resulted in decreases in population resiliency and species redundancy.
Wind Energy Development and Power Lines Wind power is a form of renewable energy increasingly being used to meet current and projected future electricity demands in the United States. Much of the new wind energy development is likely to come from the Great Plains States because they have high wind resource potential, which exerts a strong, positive influence on the amount of wind energy developed within a particular State Staid and Guikema 2013, p. 384. In 2019, three of the five States within the lesser prairie-chicken range Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas were within the top 10 States
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