Fort Collins Audubon invites you to join a virtual program (via Zoom) featuring Jonathan Reitz, a Wildlife Biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Jonathan will be presenting "Translocation as a Conservation Tool for Lesser Prairie-Chickens" tonight, Thursday, February 11th, 2021; Announcements at 7:00pm and Program at 7:20pm. The presentation will also be recorded for future viewing.
"The lesser prairie-chicken is an icon of Colorado's southeastern
prairies. Due to a long list of environmental and anthropogenic
factors, they nearly become extirpated in extreme southeast Colorado and
southwestern Kansas, in an area that was considered one of the species'
core areas. In an effort to recover the species on and around the
Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands, Colorado Parks and Wildlife,
Kansas Wildlife Parks and Tourism, and Kansas State University partnered
up and embarked on an unprecedented project for lesser
prairie-chickens. Over the course of four years, a small army of
biologists, wildlife technicians, and graduate students caught and
translocated over 400 lesser-prairie chickens to the US Forest Service
Grasslands. First and foremost, project partners wanted to take a
significant step towards recovering this dwindling population on the
sandsage prairie. But, another major goal was to determine if trapping
and transplanting could even work and if it can be a viable "tool" that
should be included in the "lesser prairie-chicken conservation tool
box". In many ways, this challenging project was the first of its
kind. Biologists had no idea whether or not the bird's own instincts and
behaviors would get in the way of success."