Senator Marshall Celebrates the Lesser Prairie-Chicken’s Removal from Threatened Species List

Washington - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), released the following statement praising the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for removing the Lesser Prairie-Chicken from the federal list of threatened and endangered wildlife, undoing the previous administration's overreach.

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken's 2022 listing under the Endangered Species Act imposed sweeping restrictions on farmers, ranchers, and energy producers across Kansas and the surrounding region. Senator Marshall has argued the listing ignored a decade of successful voluntary conservation efforts and was driven by politics rather than science.

"This action is a win for rural America and removes the red tape that has burdened Kansas farmers, ranchers, and energy producers for too long," said Senator Marshall. "Through voluntary effort by landowners, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken's population has steadily increased. Today, U.S. Fish and Wildlife validated that work - and put an end to this unnecessary listing."

Background:

• The listing by the Biden Administration placed significant regulatory burdens on farmers and ranchers operating in the birds' habitat range, restricting land use, threatening energy production, and jeopardizing the voluntary conservation model that had already proven successful.
• Since 2021, Senator Marshall has fought to ensure Kansas livelihoods are not affected by unneeded regulations concerning the Lesser Prairie-Chicken.
• In 2023, President Biden vetoed Senator Marshall's bipartisan CRA to halt the Biden Administration's 2022 decision to list the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act.
• In January of 2025, Senator Marshall introduced a bicameral bill to exclude the Lesser Prairie Chicken from the authority of the Endangered Species Act.

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