On July 20, 2016, ten months after a U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas judge ruled that federal regulators erred in finding the lesser prairie chicken “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized its delisting decision.
Environmentalists concerned about the fate of the lesser prairie-chicken had their feathers ruffled twice over the past week. First, the new GOP platform objected to the bird’s inclusion on the endangered species list. Second, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially stripped the chicken of its federally protected status. But…