Proposed Rule2026-03882
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Status Review for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 26, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
In response to a court order, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) are initiating a new 12-month petition finding process for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We ask the public to submit to us any information relevant to the status of the lesser prairie-chicken or its habitat.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9547-9548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-03882]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
[FWS-R2-ES-2025-1661; FXES1111090FEDR-267-FF09E21000]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Status Review for
the Lesser Prairie-Chicken
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notification of initiation of status review; request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: In response to a court order, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) are initiating a new 12-month petition finding
process for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus)
under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We ask the
public to submit to us any information relevant to the status of the
lesser prairie-chicken or its habitat.
DATES: Although we welcome new information submissions at any time, to
ensure that we can fully consider your information in the new status
assessment, please submit comments on or before March 30, 2026.
ADDRESSES:
Comment submission: You may submit comments by one of the following
methods:
(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. In the Search box, enter FWS-R2-ES-2025-1661,
which is the docket number for this document. Then, click on the Search
button. On the resulting page, in the panel on the left side of the
screen, under the Document Type heading, check the Proposed Rule box to
locate this document. You may submit a comment by clicking on
``Comment.''
(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments
Processing, Attn: FWS-R2-ES-2025-1661, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We request that you send comments only by the methods described
above. We will post all comments on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. This
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide
us (see Request for Information, below, for more information).
Information regarding the lesser prairie-chicken: Related
materials, such as the 2022 species status assessment report, are
available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> under Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-
2021-0015, the docket for previous Federal actions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clay Nichols, Biologist, Southwest
Regional Office, 817-277-1100, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b1d2ddd0c8eedfd8d2d9deddc2f1d7c6c29fd6dec7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93f0fff2eaccfdfaf0fbfcffe0d3f5e4e0bdf4fce5">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Species Information
Please refer to the 2022 Species Status Assessment Report (Service
2022, entire) final rule and supporting documents available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> under Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2021-0015 for more
detailed information about the lesser prairie-chicken's life history,
habitat, and geographic range and distribution.
The lesser prairie-chicken is a grassland bird found in
southeastern Colorado, western Kansas, eastern New Mexico, western
Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle. The lesser prairie-chicken is a lek
breeding species that requires large blocks of unfragmented prairie
habitat to fulfill its life history needs. The species occurs in four
ecoregions associated with unique environmental conditions based on
habitat and climactic variables (the Shinnery Oak Ecoregion, the Sand
Sagebrush Ecoregion, the Mixed-Grass Ecoregion, and the Short-Grass
Ecoregion).
Previous Federal Actions
Please see the 2021 proposed listing rule (86 FR 29432; June 1,
2021) for a complete discussion of previous Federal actions. Further,
we published a final rule to list the lesser prairie-chicken as two
distinct population segments (DPSs) (the northern DPS as threatened and
the southern DPS as endangered) and issued protective regulations under
section 4(d) of the Act (a ``4(d) rule'') for the northern DPS on
November 25, 2022 (87 FR 72674). On March 29, 2025, the U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Texas vacated the 4(d) rule for the
northern DPS of the lesser prairie-chicken (Kansas Natural Resource
Coalition, et al. v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, et al.,
No. 7:23-cv-00159 (W.D. Tex.)). On August 12, 2025, the U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Texas issued an order vacating the
final listing rule for both the northern and southern DPSs of the
lesser prairie-chicken (State of Texas, et al. v. Department of the
Interior, et al., No. 23-cv-00047 (W.D. TX)). The final rule to
withdraw the listing of the northern and southern DPSs of the lesser
prairie-chicken and the 4(d) rule for the northern DPS in compliance
with the court orders is published elsewhere in today's Federal
Register. More information on the litigation history for the recent
court case is available in that final rule.
As noted in the August 12, 2025, court order, the Service intends
to make a new 12-month petition finding on the original 2016 petition
that gave rise to the 2022 final listing rule. Thus, we are requesting
any new information to inform our new 12-month petition finding.
Request for Information
We are requesting the submission of any information pertaining to
the lesser prairie-chicken. We are particularly interested in
information that has become available since, or was not considered in,
the 2022 final listing
[[Page 9548]]
rule. If you already submitted comments or information in the previous
proposed rulemaking or in other comment periods, there is no need to
resubmit them. Any such comments were incorporated as part of the
public record of the rulemaking proceeding, and we will fully consider
them in the preparation of our subsequent determinations. While we will
accept new information on the lesser prairie-chicken at any time, we
request that new information be submitted no later than the date
specified above under DATES to provide adequate time to incorporate it
into our status review. We are particularly interested in the following
types of information pertaining to the lesser prairie-chicken:
(1) The species' biology (including genetics), range, and
population trends.
(2) Factors that may affect the continued existence of the species,
which may include habitat modification or destruction, overutilization,
disease, predation, the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms,
or other natural or manmade factors.
(3) Biological, commercial trade, or other relevant data concerning
any threats (or lack thereof) to this species and existing conservation
measures and regulations that may be addressing those threats.
(4) Additional information concerning the historical and current
status, range, distribution, and population size of this species,
including the locations of any additional populations of this species.
We request that you submit any new information concerning the
taxonomy of, biology of, ecology of, status of, or threats to the
lesser prairie-chicken, to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> before 11:59
p.m. (eastern time) on the date specified in DATES.
If you submit information via <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, your
entire submission--including any personal identifying information--will
be posted on the website. If your submission is made via a hardcopy
that includes personal identifying information, you may request at the
top of your document that we withhold this information from public
review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. We
will post all hardcopy submissions on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Authority
The authority for this action is section 4 of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Brian R. Nesvik,
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-03882 Filed 2-25-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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