Comments on Lesser Prairie Chicken 'listing' plan reopened

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today the reopening of the public comment period on its 2012 proposal to add the lesser prairie-chicken to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The public comment period will b...e reopened for 45 days to allow an opportunity for the public, the scientific community and other interested parties to provide input on the original listing proposal in light of a newly-released range-wide conservation plan for the species. Read more by clicking on the link!
 A copy of the plan is available at http://www.wafwa.org/documents/AprilDraftLEPCPlanSubmittedUSFWS04_02_2013.pdf.
The reopened comment period also allows the public to review and comment on a proposed special rule that, if approved, would foster conservation of the lesser prairie-chicken and give landowners across the species’ range additional flexibility to manage their land, should the species require protection as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed special rule, issued under Section 4(d) of the ESA, would allow take of lesser prairie-chicken incidental to activities carried out through the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative and activities included in comprehensive prairie-chicken conservation programs developed by or in coordination with the state fish and wildlife agencies. The 4(d) rule would only be implemented if the lesser prairie-chicken were to be listed.

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