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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules prairie-chicken adult population trends with a potential lag effect Giesen 2000, p. 145; Ross et al. 2016a, pp. 68. That is, rain levels in one year promote more vegetative cover for eggs and chicks in the following year, which influences survival and reproduction.
Although lesser prairie-chicken have persisted through droughts in the past, the effects of such droughts are exacerbated by human land use practices such as incompatible grazing and land cultivation Merchant 1982, p.
51; Hamerstrom and Hamerstrom 1961, pp. 288289; Davis et al. 1979, p. 122;
Taylor and Guthery 1980a, p. 2; Ross et al. 2016b, pp. 183186 as well as the other threats that have affected the current condition and have altered and fragmented the landscape and decreased population abundances Fuhlendorf et al. 2002, p. 617; Rodgers 2016, pp. 15
19. In past decades, fragmentation of lesser prairie-chicken habitat was less extensive than it is today, connectivity between occupied areas was more prevalent, and populations were larger, allowing populations to recover more quickly. In other words, lesser prairiechicken populations were more resilient to the effects of stochastic events such as drought. As lesser prairie-chicken population abundances decline and usable habitat declines and becomes more fragmented, their ability to rebound from prolonged drought is diminished.
Hail storms can cause mortality of prairie grouse, particularly during the spring nesting season. An excerpt from the May 1879 Stockton News that describes a large hailstorm near Kirwin, Kansas, as responsible for killing prairie-chickens likely greater prairiechicken and other birds by the hundreds Fleharty 1995, p. 241.
Although such phenomena are likely rare, the effects can be significant, particularly if they occur during the nesting period and result in significant loss of eggs or chicks. Severe winter storms can also result in localized impacts to lesser prairie-chicken populations. For example, a severe winter storm in 2006 was reported to reduce lesser prairie-chicken numbers in Colorado by 75 percent from 2006 to 2007, from 296 birds observed to only 74. Active leks also declined from 34
leks in 2006 to 18 leks in 2007 Verquer 2007, p. 2. While populations commonly rebound to some degree following severe weather events such as drought and winter storms, a population with decreased resiliency becomes susceptible to extirpation from stochastic events.
We are not able to quantify the impact that severe weather has had on the
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lesser prairie-chicken populations, but, as discussed above, these events have shaped recent history and influenced the current condition for the lesser prairie-chicken.
Regulatory Mechanisms In Appendix D of the SSA report Service 2021, we review in more detail the existing regulatory mechanisms such as local, State, and Federal land use regulations or laws that may be significant to lesser prairie-chicken conservation. Here, we present a summary of some of those regulatory mechanisms. All existing regulatory mechanisms were fully considered in our conclusion about the status of the two DPSs.
All five States in the estimated occupied range have incorporated the lesser prairie-chicken as a species of conservation concern and management priority in their respective State Wildlife Action Plans. While identification of the lesser prairiechicken as a species of conservation concern helps heighten public awareness, this designation provides no protection from direct take or habitat destruction or alteration. The lesser prairie-chicken is listed as threatened in Colorado; this listing protects the lesser prairie-chicken from direct purposeful mortality by humans but does not provide protections for destruction or alteration of habitat.
Primary land ownership approximately 5 percent of total range at the Federal level is on USFS and BLM
lands. The lesser prairie-chicken is present on the Cimarron National Grassland in Kansas and the Comanche National Grassland in Colorado; a total of approximately 3 percent of the total acres estimated in the current condition is on USFS land. The 2014 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Management Plan for these grasslands provides a framework to manage lesser prairie-chicken habitat.
The plan provides separate population and habitat recovery goals for each grassland, as well as vegetation surveys to inform ongoing and future monitoring efforts of suitable habitat and lek activities. Because National Grasslands are managed for multiple uses, the plan includes guidelines for prescribed fire and grazing.
In New Mexico, roughly 41 percent of the known historical and most of the estimated occupied lesser prairiechicken range occurs on BLM land, for a total of 3 percent of the total acres estimated in the current condition. The BLM established the 57,522-ac 23,278ha Lesser Prairie-Chicken Habitat Preservation Area of Critical Environmental Concern ACEC upon
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completion of the Resource Management Plan Amendment RMPA
in 2008. The management goal for the ACEC is to protect the biological qualities of the area, with emphasis on the preservation of the shinnery oakdune community to enhance the biodiversity of the ecosystem, particularly habitats for the lesser prairie-chicken and the dunes sagebrush lizard. Upon designation, the ACEC was closed to future oil and gas leasing, and existing leases would be developed in accordance with prescriptions applicable to the Core Management Area as described below BLM 2008, p. 30.
Additional management prescriptions for the ACEC include designation as a right-of-way exclusion area, vegetation management to meet the stated management goal of the area, and limiting the area to existing roads and trails for off-highway vehicle use BLM
2008, p. 31. All acres of the ACEC have been closed to grazing through relinquishment of the permits except for one 3,442-ac 1,393-ha allotment.
The BLMs approved RMPA BLM
2008, pp. 531 provides some limited protections for the lesser prairie-chicken in New Mexico by reducing the number of drilling locations, decreasing the size of well pads, reducing the number and length of roads, reducing the number of powerlines and pipelines, and implementing best management practices for development and reclamation. The effect of these best management practices on the status of the lesser prairie-chicken is unknown, particularly considering about 82,000 ac 33,184 ha have already been leased in those areas BLM 2008, p. 8. Although the BLM RMPA is an important tool for identifying conservation actions that would benefit lesser prairie-chicken, this program is not adequate to eliminate threats to the species such that is does not warrant listing under the Act.
No new mineral leases will be issued on approximately 32 percent of Federal mineral acreage within the RMPA
planning area BLM 2008, p. 8, although some exceptions are allowed on a case-by-case basis BLM 2008, pp.
911. Within the Core Management Area and Primary Population Area, new leases will be restricted in occupied and suitable habitat; however, if there is an overall increase in reclaimed to disturbed acres over a 5-year period, new leases in these areas will be allowed BLM 2008, p. 11. In the southernmost habitat management units, where lesser prairie-chickens are now far less common than in previous decades Hunt and Best 2004, new
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