Gone On The Range: Missouri Prairie Chickens Are Disappearing
Even though Missouri conservation officials have shipped in hundreds of prairie chickens over the last 40 years, the native species has steadily declined in the state.
As the Missouri Department of Conservation prepares to count prairie chickens this spring, the agency reported this week that the population in Missouri has dropped to fewer than 100. In the 1800s, there were hundreds of thousands of prairie chickens that roamed throughout the state. The birds that remain can only be found in small patches of prairie in western Missouri.
The MDC has tried to bring in prairie chickens from Nebraska and Kansas, where the species is not endangered. The department is also working with farmers and ranchers to restore prairies. But neither effort have brought about long-term increases to the birds’ population, said Max Alleger, a grasslands biologist at the MDC.
“Although we can provide wonderful habitat quality, we haven’t been able to provide enough of it to meet the needs of those birds,” Alleger said.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/gone-range-missouri-prairie-chickens-are-disappearing