What’s good for birds is good for herds

Kirk Hanlin stood on a ridge where a dozen or more lesser prairie chickens had just flushed, and looked out over healthy prairie, ready to fatten incoming cattle, for about as far as the eye could see.

“What’s good for the herds is good for the birds,” said Hanlin, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service assistant chief. “This is how it should be, good for the producer and good for wildlife.”

Hanlin was in Kansas on Thursday with about 30 people representing a variety of conservation and agricultural groups, all with an interest in lesser prairie chickens. A key goal was to review research done on the birds over about the past three years, and to make plans for the future.

“Now it’s time to take what we’ve learned … and boil it down so we can do more for the birds,” said Hanlin. “… It’s also how we can get the largest results for each dollar we spend.”

The research

▪  Significant research began across much the lesser prairie chicken range about four years ago. Much of the work was done by research graduate students from major colleges within four states.

▪ Techniques included the use radio telemetry and GPS tracking devices on adult and just-hatched prairie chickens. Livestock was similarly monitored to learn how grazing preferences relates to prairie chicken habitat.

▪ Proving cattle and lesser prairie chickens can benefit from the same management programs was probably the most important information gathered.

The facts

Biologists leading a tour of a ranch with a healthy lesser prairie chicken population discussed the following.

Grazing practices

▪ Grazing is an important part of prairie chicken ecology and they best thrive in grasslands that vary in height and thickness, managed through grazing and/or burning.

▪ Hen prairie chickens like to nest in tall, thick grasslands. When their eggs hatch they move to more open areas where the chicks can easily move and feed on insects.

Over-grazed grasslands don’t offer prairie chickens cover or food. Also, over-grazed prairies weaken the root systems of grasses, and plants won’t develop into ideal forage for cattle in coming years. Poor root systems also produce poorly during drought.

Tree removal

▪ Prairie chickens avoid areas with as little as one tree per acre, and may not come within up to 1,000 feet or more of trees. Fear of predators, especially birds of prey, could be the reason for the avoidance.

▪ Other tall structures, like houses, power lines and wind turbines are also avoided.

▪ Across the northern part of the bird’s range, eastern red cedar trees are the most problematic tree, though locust, hackberry and cottonwoods can impact habitat. Mesquite is the largest problem plant in the southern portion of the range.

▪ Trees can greatly reduce forage for cattle. They shade out good grasses and can rob desirable plants hundreds of gallons of water, per acre, annually. Some prairie states lose up to $100 million annually in grazing forage to tree encroachment.

Fire

▪ Research shows managed fires could be one of the easiest, affordable, and most effective tools to help improve habitat for the birds.

▪ Planned burning easily controls cedar and small deciduous trees. Unlike spraying, it does not kill grasses and forbs around the trees.

▪ Fire encourages the growth of forbs and wild legumes, which provide the insects that chicks must have the first several weeks of their life.

▪ Those same forbs and legumes put nitrogen into the soil, which helps the grasses that provide quality forage for cattle.

▪ While the recent about 400,000-acre Anderson Creek fire destroyed millions of trees, and will provide better grazing for cattle, the area won’t be prime lesser prairie chicken habitat until most of the standing tree skeletons are removed.

Preserving grasslands

▪ Grasslands converted to croplands is a significant contributor to loss of habitat. That includes significant losses of Conservation Reserve Program fields. In portions of western Kansas, CRP grasses held about 40 percent of prairie chicken nests while making up about 13 percent of the countryside.

▪ In arid areas, well-managed grazing lands may provide a more reliable income for landowners than if those lands are planted to crops.

Looking to the future

Because of the research, Hanlin said NRCS will continue the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative for at least three more years, and probably make the following adjustments:

▪ Expand lands enrolled in the initiative from about 1 million to about 1.5 million acres.

▪ Improve efforts to help ranchers initiate prescribed grazing on their lands in ways that benefit wildlife and livestock.

▪ Specifically target areas with modest tree infestations, where the least amount of work and money will be needed to make the grasslands appealing to prairie chickens.

▪ Help ranchers develop prescribed burning programs on their grasslands. The could include education, possible financial motivation and help with creating localized prescribed burning associations operated largely by volunteers.

▪ Create an easement program that pays landowners to leave fields in grass, rather than converted to cultivation. Also to work with landowners to get the best habitat from CRP acres, too.

“This can be a win-win for everybody involved,” said Hanlin. “That’s what good government is supposed to be about.

Current status

▪ The range of lesser prairie chickens includes arid regions of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

▪  Some of the highest populations in modern times were in the late 1980s, then loss of habitat, and intermittent drought, contributed to some overall population declines through the mid-1990s. Populations mostly stabilized, then suffered from habitat loss and severe drought from about 2011 through 2014.

▪  In March, 2014 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the birds on their threatened species list. Last fall a federal judge in Texas removed them from that list; not considering voluntary conservation efforts was listed as one of his reasons.

▪ Spring aerial surveys conducted across most of the lesser prairie chicken range showed a breeding population of about 19,000 in 2013. Largely because of drought, that was about half of the 2012 population. The 2015 population estimate was about 29,000. Summer and fall populations are usually quite a bit higher.

▪ Kansas annually has more than half of the nation’s lesser prairie chicken population. Nesting conditions look good for this year.

▪ Biologists have set a goal of a range wide population of 67,000 birds someday.

Taking the initiative

In 2010 NRCS helped create the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative to help bring groups together to help the species. The NRCS supplies much of the funding and man power, including offices and biologists in about every county within the lesser prairie chicken range. The group is also heavily supported by the governments and game departments from all five states, plus most major conservation and agricultural groups.

There are also more than 450 landowners range wide who volunteer their properties for initiative programs. Such landowners and field-level biologists, who usually assist in getting others in their areas enrolled, are considered the most important members of the initiative.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "What’s good for birds is good for herds."