The fight over the lesser prairie chicken might not be finished. A coalition of environmental groups has filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contending that the bird remains in danger of extinction.
The filing came only four months after the federal government gave up a court fight to keep the bird on the endangered species list. But the environmentalists say there’s new evidence to keep the bird on the list. The groups say key populations are in danger because of climate change problems caused by energy development, farming and development of roads and power lines.
They’re asking for emergency protections of some isolated prairie chicken populations near the Texas-New Mexico border, western Kansas and in Colorado.
It was in July when the federal agencies took steps to formally remove the bird from the list after court rulings in Texas stripped the bird of protection.