WAFWA's Lesser Prairie Chicken Technical Service Provider Training

5/19/15: DESCO Senior Ecologist and Principal Scientist, Arthur Perkins, attended the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency’s (WAFWA) Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC) Technical Service Provider Training in Garden City, Kansas on May, 2015. The LPC is often confused with the Greater Prairie Chicken (GPC). Other than one being slightly “lesser” in size than the other, the main recognizable difference is the male GPC has a yellowish-orange gular air sack on the side of its neck and the male LPC has a red gular air sack. The LPC’s current habitats can be found in portions of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and is highly concentrated in Kansas. The range of the two species overlap only in a small portion of their individual ranges in north and central Kansas.

The training covered survey methodologies, habitat assessment methodologies, WAFWA’s reporting and submittal procedures, mitigation fee calculation procedures, the Range Wide Conservation Plan, and other related topics. The LPC Interstate Working Group (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas) has developed a range-wide conservation plan to increase the population of the LPC, in partnership within federal agencies and others. WAFWA’s training program included a detailed lecture and field experience. DESCO is a WAFWA approved Technical Service Provider for lesser prairie chicken surveys, habitat assessments, and mitigation assessments. Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have concerning the lesser prairie chicken or doing business in their habitat range.