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Assessment Of Conservation Reserve Program Fields Within The Current Distribution Of Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Dana Ripper, Megan Mclachlan, Theodore Toombs, Tammy Vercauteren
Assessment Of Conservation Reserve Program Fields Within The Current Distribution Of Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Dana Ripper, Megan Mclachlan, Theodore Toombs, Tammy Vercauteren
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences
Populations of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) have declined by more than 90%, due primarily to the conversion of sand-sage and mixed-grass prairie to agriculture, overgrazing by domestic livestock, juniper encroachment, and fossil-fuel development. Degradation of native habitats has made restored cropland through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) potentially one ofthe best management options for lesser prairie-chicken. An estimated 1.4 million hectares of CRP exist within the lesser prairie-chicken range. We assessed 1,019 CRP fields representing more than 51,000 hectares within the current distribution of the lesser prairie-chicken. We sampled various grassland plantings including Farm Service Agency conservation practices …