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Lesser Prairie-Chicken

Two-pronged strategy for conservation
Nesting Bird Image

Slide An iconic American grouse species that occupies native grasslands and prairies of the southern Great Plains. Slide its population has declined hundreds of thousands Once numbering in the Slide WAFWA's 2022 aerial survey results estimate the 3-year average population to be 32,058 Slide The decline is due largely to habitat loss and fragmentation across the southern Great Plains Slide of the species habitat
has diminished across their historical range 90% Slide In 2012 a unique partnership began across the species range to work towards conservation of the species and its habitats in the southern Great Plains. Slide WAFWA’s Lesser Prairie Chicken
Range-wide Conservation Plan
The Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan
932 views / 16250 downloads
    pdf, 9.79 MB
    October 1, 2013
Publication Details
WAFWA in partnership with New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas
Range-wide

CONSERVATION

The range-wide plan brings together the various programs and efforts working toward conservation of lesser prairie-chicken and its habitats, to provide a common and unified partnership approach.  The plan emphasizes shared resources such as conservation planning tools and encourages private landowners and others to partner with agencies and organizations in their conservation efforts.

EXPLORE – Shared Conservation Resources & Tools

Slide SPECIES CONSERVATION Click Here Explore the story of the lesser prairie-chicken and the efforts to conserve this emblematic species of the Southern Great Plains. Slide Enrollment Opportunity for Private Landowners PROGRAMS Click Here Habitat Restoration Funds Available! Slide Lesser Prairie-Chicken
Rangewide
Population Estimates REPORTS Click Here Slide Annotated Genome Assembly of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken SCIENCE Click Here Annotated Genome Assembly of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken 2023 Slide Southern Great Plains CHAT Geospatial data to help prioritize conservation efforts GEOSPATIAL Click Here Slide Lesser Prairie-Chicken Habitat Evaluation Forms Lesser Prairie-Chicken Habitat Evaluation updated 2022 MONITORING Click Here Slide 2022 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Estimated Population Size REPORT Click Here Slide Field Identification Guide for Common LPC Plants PUBLICATIONS Click Here Slide Guidance on how to
build a cover pole FACT SHEET Click Here Slide Fence Visual Markers FACT SHEET Click Here to reduce wildlife collision Slide Stock Tank Escape Ramps FACT SHEET Click Here to reduce wildlife drowning
Range-wide

MITIGATION

The Range-Wide Oil & Gas Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (CCAA) is a voluntary conservation strategy administered by WAFWA and permitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The CCAA provides incentives for enrolled oil & gas industry participants to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts to the lesser prairie-chicken while providing regulatory assurances regarding the effect, if any, that an ESA listing would have on their operations.

AVOIDANCE

The CCAA incentivizes the location of new oil and gas developments within areas already impacted by infrastructure.

Colocation includes siting new developments within existing common rights-of-ways or by clustering of facilities. The CCAA strategy incentives collocating by not requiring mitigation (no mitigation fee charged) on lands already impacted with existing infrastructure.

In 2022, new developments exhibited a 69% colocation rate which decreased habitat impacts by 505 acres. Since the start of the program in 2014, the colocation rate has been 64%, which decreased habitat impacts by 25,395 acres. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the program’s incentivization to avoid industry impacts within areas not previously impacted. It also demonstrates industry participants commitment to implementing the discretionary conservation measure of avoiding new habitat impacts. 2022 Annual Progress Report

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MINIMIZATION

When avoidance is not possible, the CCAA incentivizes the location of new oil & gas developments outside of high-quality habitat.

Under the CCAA, high-quality habitat is defined as having a CHAT score of 1 or 2 (focal areas & connectivity zones) and low to no quality habitat has a CHAT score 3 or 4. The CCAA incentives avoidance of high-quality habitat by assigning higher mitigation fee ratios to these areas.

In 2022, the percentage of new impacts occurring outside of high-quality habitat is 79%. Since the start of the program in 2014, the percentage has been 74%. Specifically, 34% of the impacts have occurred in non-habitat (CHAT 4). This demonstrates the effectiveness of the program’s incentivization to avoid new developments within high-quality habitat areas. It also demonstrates industry Participants commitment to implementing the discretionary conservation measure of avoiding high-quality habitat areas. 2022 Annual Progress Report

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MITIGATION

When industry activities occur to LPC habitat which cannot be fully addressed through avoidance, the CCAA employs a 2:1 mitigation ratio.

The mitigation framework is biologically based to quantify both the impacts to habitat quality (impact units) and improvements to habitat quality (offset units); that is, the CCAA does not mitigate impacts based merely on the acreage of habitat impacted. It addresses the quality of the acreage impacted.

In 2022, 21 oil & gas projects were mitigated impacting 227 acres of potential habitat (CHAT 1-4) and resulted in 45 impact units. Since the inception of the program in 2014, a total of 1,392 projects were mitigated impacting 17,861 acres of potential habitat and resulted in 11,244 impact units. This is mitigated by conservation efforts which generated 55,331 offset units on 44,730 acres of high-quality habitat. Meaning that in addition to the built-in 2:1 mitigation ratio, the CCAA exceed the need by 80%. 2022 Annual Progress Report

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EXPLORE – Shared Mitigation Resources & Tools

Slide 1 2022
CCAA Progress Report REPORTS Click Here Slide Learn about the CCAA's Conservation Measures to avoid or minimize impacts to the LPC and its habitat. Coming Soon CONSERVATION MEASURES Click Here Slide Learn About the Benefits of Remediation HABITAT Click Here

Net Conservation Benefit

The CCAA conservation strategy provides benefits to the species well beyond the program’s USFWS permit requirements. This is realized primarily through industry’s voluntary conservation actions, such as implement of voluntary conservation measures, promoting remediation, providing lek survey information, supporting WAFWA’s conservation efforts beyond whats required by the permit, and by providing the necessary resources to advance some of the best science available.

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Range-Wide Oil & Gas Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken
61 views / 12120 downloads
    pdf, 1.05 MB
    February 28, 2014
Publication Details
Range-Wide Oil & Gas Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken

In 2014, the CCAA was approved by the Service by issue of a 30-year federal permit #TE27289B-0 that expires on 2/28/2044. WAFWA holds the permit and is the CCAA program administrator with responsibility to ensure activities under the CCAA are in-compliance with the terms and conditions, and that operations are conducted following the CCAA Business Plan (WAFWA, 2021). The business plan was recently updated with the help of third-party consultants, to identify actionable improvements and designated benchmarks for the continued success of the CCAA. This plan supersedes the one identified in the 2014 Range-wide Plan.

The Species Restoration Foundation (SRF) is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization created by WAFWA solely to manage the financial operations of the CCAA. WAFWA and SRF share a principal interest in the success and governance of the CCAA by having a mutual Executive Board of Directors. The board is composed of the directors of each member agency and is the ultimate decision maker for the CCAA. Learn more about SRF.

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative Council (LPCIC) is the governing body of the CCAA, comprised of the directors, or their designee, of the five-state fish and wildlife agencies within the LPC range, to provide support and oversight of the CCAA’s administration. The LPCIC is informed by advisory committees providing a mix of expertise and experience. The LPC Program Director oversees the day-to-day operations.

2014. Range-wide Oil and Gas CCAA (PDF, 1 MB)
2014. Federal Permit #TE27289B-0 (PDF, 2 MB)
2021. CCAA Business Plan (PDF, 265 KB)

CCAA Operational Overview

Adaptive Management Changes

The CCAA provides for adaptive management under its conservation strategy as a method for evaluating alternative strategies to meet the biological goals and objectives of the program, and if necessary, a process for adjusting future conservation actions based on the findings of the evaluation.

2024 Impact Buffers (PDF, 213 KB)
2024 Mitigation Fee Adjustment (PDF, 225 KB)
2023 Mitigation Fee Adjustment (PDF, 225 KB)
2022 Mitigation Fee Adjustment (PDF, 227 KB)
2017 Remediation Calculation Adjustment (PDF, 297 KB)
2017 Mitigation Fee Adjustment (PDF, 361 KB)
2016 Electric Distribution Guidance (PDF, 1 MB)
2015 Adaptive Mgmt. Changes (PDF, 207 KB)
2015 Impact Buffers (PDF, 86 KB)
2015 Aerial Survey Gap Protocol (PDF, 8 MB)
2015 Evaluation Unit Guidelines (PDF, 274 KB)

Adaptive Managment Changes

Annual Progress Reports

Reports are submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by March 31st of each year as a condition of the CCAA permit. They document program compliance with the term of the permit, demonstate the conservation accomplishments and provide program updates.

2023 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 814 KB) and 3rd Party Programmatic Review (PDF, 296 KB)

2022 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 876 KB) and 3rd Party Programmatic Review (PDF, 420 KB)

2021 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 1 MB) and 3rd Party Programmatic Review (PDF, 255 KB)

2020 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 1 MB)

2019 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 2 MB)

2018 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 7 MB)

2017 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 8 MB)

2016 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 6 MB)

2015 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 5 MB)

2014 Annual Progress Report (PDF, 4 MB)

CCAA Annual Progress Reports

Participant Resources

Industry Enrollment is closed to new industry participation effective March of 2019. However, participants may transfer land enrollment, pre-paid enrollment fees and/or remediation credits to another company.

• CCAA Enrollment Transfer Form (fillable PDF, 1 MB)
• CCAA Certificate of Inclusion (fillable PDF, 4 MB)

Industry Project Submission

• WAFWA’s Western Conservation Toolkit (WCT) provides participants with ‘live-time’ support to securely manage and track mitigation projects. The WCT mobile app supports field-based project evaluation.

WAFWA WCT Portal

• Linear Project Submission Form 02.20.2024 (fillable PDF, 216KB)
• 2024 Mitigation Fee and Unit Calculations 01.01.2024 (.xlsx, 55KB)
• Impact Buffers (PDF, 213 KB)

Habitat Evaluation utilizes four categorical variables to assess lesser prairie-chicken habitat quality. This field-based evaluation is used to assess industry project impacts; gauge remediation/restoration progress and success; and to evaluate and track conservation efforts through time. This evaluation is intended to be a quick assessment that can be accomplished with limited vegetation monitoring training.

• Habitat Evaluation Guide (HEG) 09.21.2022 (PDF, 7MB)
• Habitat Evaluation Guide (HEG), fillable 09.21.2022 (zipped .xlsm, 7MB)
• Habitat Evaluation Guide (HEG) plus Monitoring for Conservation Sites, fillable 09.21.2022 (zipped .xlsm, 7MB)
• Guide Sheet: Building a LPC Cover Pole, 2022 (PDF, 806KB)

Lek Surveys. Participants have the option to conduct surveys for the presence of LPC leks to inform the implementation of CCAA avoidance measures. Surveys are conducted in accordance with the USFWS protocol and may require permitting (Protocol).

• WAFWA LPC Lek Survey Form 2024 (Excel, 410 KB)
• View Known Active Leks/Surveyed Areas: www.sgpchat.org

Habitat Management. WAFWA-approved Technical Service Providers work with Participants to generate a site-specific plan that describes the location and timing of the Conservation Practices (management activities) that will be implemented to conserve and enhance the survival of the lesser prairie-chicken (LPC) and its habitat. 

• Grazing Annual Self Reporting Form (coming soon)
• Grazing Exclusion Cages (coming soon)
• Fence Visual Markers (PDF, 644KB)
• Stock Tank Wildlife Escape Ladders (PDF, 1MB)
• Chemical Brush Management (PDF, 302KB)
• Conservation Measures for Conservation Enrollments (PDF, 185KB)

Remediation. The CCAA incentivizes the remediation of impacts on the landscape as a conservation measure to reduce habitat loss and fragmentation of native grasslands and prairies of the southern Great Plains.

• The Benefits of Remediation (PDF, 474 KB)
• Remediation Documentation (fillable PDF, 2 MB)
• Habitat Evaluation Guide (HEG) 09.21.2022 (PDF, 7MB)
• Habitat Evaluation Guide (HEG), fillable 09.21.2022 (zipped .xlsm, 7MB)

Participant Resources

Contact Us

Chanda Pettie
Lesser Prairie-Chicken Program Manager
Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies
chanda.pettie@wafwa.org

Jeff Davis
LPC Initiative Council Chair
Director of Colorado Parks & Wildlife
jeffrey.davis@state.co.us

Support Incentive-based
Voluntary Conservation

Promote Shared
Approaches, Resources & Tools

Encourage Impact
Avoidance & Minimization

Document Name Last Updated File Size Download
2013. Lesser Prairie Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan 2/28/2023 7.37 mb Download
2014. CCAA Permit No. TE27289B-0 9/05/2023 1.88 mb Download
4/16/2024 0 kb Download

Western Grasslands Initiative