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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules It is important to note that these acreages consist of patches of fragmented habitat among developed areas and other unsuitable habitat.
Based on our geospatial analysis, the vast majority of blocks of usable habitat and the total area within those blocks, both in the current condition and in future scenarios, are less than 12,000 ac 4,856 ha, and very few blocks were greater than 50,000 ac 20,234 ha Service 2021, Figure 4.2. As discussed above, the space required by lesser prairie-chicken to support individuals from a single lek is approximately 12,00050,000 ac 4,85620,234 ha.
The dominance of smaller blocks on the landscape further exhibits that those spaces are highly fragmented, even with the remaining potential usable area for the lesser prairie-chicken totaling approximately 4,000,000 ac 1,600,000
ha in the current condition, and potentially declining to as low as 3,000,000 ac 1,200,000 ha under scenario 5 for our future condition projections. High levels of fragmentation, as discussed in Threats Influencing Current Condition, do not provide the landscape composition needed for long-term stability of
populations. Additionally, in spaces that are highly fragmented, relatively small amounts of additional impacts may have great consequences as landscape composition thresholds for the lesser prairie-chicken are surpassed.
Several habitat enhancement actions for the lesser prairie-chicken are being implemented across the analysis area.
These enhancement actions are implemented on existing habitat to enhance the quality of that given area.
We asked our conservation partners to provide us with a range of plausible rates for conservation efforts occurring within the lesser prairie-chicken analysis area by ecoregion. We also requested information regarding effectiveness, project lifespan, and spatial targeting of these efforts Service 2021, Appendix C, Section C.3.4. Next, we converted those rates for each program and conservation effort to the total effort at year 25. Table 15
summarizes the three projected levels of future habitat enhancement over the next 25 years for each ecoregion. These efforts represent those above and beyond what is already accounted for within the current condition analysis.
Acreage enrolled in CCAAs are assumed
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to continue to be enrolled in the future, and CCAA projections within this table represent enrollments in addition to existing enrollments. This table also does not include continued management actions on permanently protected properties such as Stateowned wildlife management areas or conservation banks, as it is assumed this management will continue.
Additionally, the numbers reported for NRCS grazing plans are acres in addition to the number of acres reported above in Conservation Efforts that are being managed under prescribed grazing for the lesser prairie-chicken by NRCS, as we assume that as contract acres expire from the program additional acres will be enrolled.
The actual conservation benefit provided to the lesser prairie-chicken by these programs varies greatly and is difficult to summarize because it depends on the location and the specific actions being carried out for each individual agreement. In addition, the level of future voluntary participation in these programs can be highly variable depending on available funding, opportunities for other revenue sources, and many other circumstances.

TABLE 15PROJECTED AMOUNT OF HABITAT ENHANCEMENT IN ACRES OVER THE NEXT 25 YEARS WITHIN THE FOUR
LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN ECOREGIONS
Total level of future effort acres at year 25
Enhancement efforts Low
Continuation
High
Short-Grass/CRP Ecoregion KDWPT Enhancement Contract
NRCS LPCI Grazing Plan
USFWS PFW Contract

0
0 14,000

6,740
0 14,000

17,500
4,000
20,000

0
0 1,400
0 0
50,000
0

0
120
3,300
50,000
0 50,000
0

118,245
3,100
6,400
100,000
58,000
70,000
550,000

0
0 0
0

720
12,200
0 6,000

4,400
37,900
13,000
18,000

0
0 0
50,000
5,000
0

0
0 25,000
100,000
15,000
0

8,129
39,000
100,000
150,000
50,000
60,000

Mixed-Grass Ecoregion WAFWA Management Plan
KDWPT Enhancement Contract
ODWC Management
ODWC Additional CCAA Enrollment
NRCS LPCI Grazing Plan
USFWS PFW Contract
TPWD Additional CCAA Enrollment
Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion KDWPT Enhancement Contract
CPW Enhancement Contract
NRCS LPCI Grazing Plan
USFWS PFW Contract

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Shinnery Oak Ecoregion WAFWA Management Plan
NRCS LPCI Grazing Plan
BLM Prescribed Fire
NM CCAA Prescribed Fire
USFWS PFW Contract
TPWD Additional CCAA Enrollment

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