The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a species of conservation priority because of long-term population declines and changes in available habitat; primarily type conversion of native prairie to other uses. With large acreages of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) expiring and new limitations on total acres to be enrolled, in 2010, The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) initiated its Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative (LPCI) to retain these CRP fields as grassland and transform them into working lands. The LPCI was expanded to capitalize on 27 NRCS practices that can assist in addressing other threats to the species for example: woody encroachment, improper livestock grazing, and fence collision risk. We have implemented a 3-tiered approach to assessing the effects of LPCI on LEPC populations. Through these assessments, we are simultaneously using science based targeting tools to quantify the extent of a given threat and determine objectives to adequately reduce the threats. Tools currently under development include: tillage risk (including loss of CRP), fence collision risk, eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginianus) encroachment, and honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) encroachment. We will illustrate the implementation of these targeting tools in the context of invasive woody species and a framework for meaningful threat reduction.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.