The Justice Department has dropped a court fight over the lesser prairie chicken, a step applauded by Western congressmen but that also prompted criticism about whether the battle is really over, reports McClatchy. The Interior Department listed the bird as a threatened species in 2014, but a federal judge in Texas ruled that the government failed to follow its own rules in making the determination.
In the meantime, the population of lesser prairie chickens rebounded, helped by the end of a drought and by voluntary conservation efforts. The ground-foraging bird, which consumes insects, is found in grasslands in parts of five states in the southern Plains, from Kansas to Texas. McClatchy said the Interior Department “seemed to leave the door open to a re-listing of the bird. Opponents said a listing under the Endangered Species Act would adversely affect farmers, ranchers, the oil and gas industry and even wind power facilities.