Land Trust Acquires Colorado Ranch to Help Restore Declining Lesser Prairie-Chicken Population

A conservation land trust has purchased a former private ranch spanning nearly 2,100 acres in southeastern Colorado for just under $2 million. The acquisition aims to help restore declining populations of the lesser prairie-chicken, a critically threatened grassland bird facing severe habitat loss and fragmentation across the region. According to 2024 data, Colorado's lesser prairie-chicken population has plummeted dramatically from over 80,000 birds recorded in 1975 down to a mere 89 breeding males.

The Southern Plains Land Trust secured the property in August using funding gathered through grants and donations. Located in Kiowa County, the newly acquired parcel sits directly adjacent to the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The land trust plans to collaborate closely with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to restore the property, with restoration work anticipated to commence next winter or spring. The primary objective is to allow the grassland to recover and revive key plant species essential for the survival and breeding of the lesser prairie-chickens.

The site of the new preserve is strategically situated within 10 miles of an active lesser prairie-chicken lek, which serves as a traditional breeding ground where male birds congregate during the mating season to display and compete for mates. Henry Pollock, an ecologist, conservation biologist, and executive director of the Southern Plains Land Trust, noted that habitat loss and overgrazing have been major drivers behind the species' sharp decline.

Pollock explained that the ongoing degradation includes the loss of bunch grasses and small micro-habitats that the birds rely upon for nesting. By allowing the land to rest and recovering essential grass species, conservationists hope the birds will naturally recolonize the area, though future translocation efforts remain a possibility if needed.

Lesser prairie-chickens are brown and white grassland birds roughly the size of a soccer ball, typically weighing between one and two pounds. During the mating season, male birds inflate neck air sacs to highlight prominent reddish or orange patches to attract females. Their native habitat spans the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion across southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and a small section of western Oklahoma. Colorado Parks and Wildlife identifies multiple threats to the species, including habitat loss, fragmentation, energy development, agriculture, grazing, and climate change.

Past conservation initiatives have utilized bird translocation strategies. Between 2016 and 2019, Colorado Parks and Wildlife partnered with Kansas to relocate 411 birds from northwestern Kansas into the Sand Sagebrush Ecoregion, releasing them at the Comanche National Grasslands in Colorado and the Cimarron National Grasslands in Kansas. Wildlife biologist Jonathan Reitz, who participated in the project, noted that the effort showed early success when relocated birds established 20 leks across the two sites one year after completion, resulting in 115 males and an estimated total population of around 250 birds.

However, subsequent regional droughts contributed to a later population decline, underscoring the critical need for properly managed lands and adequate funding to sustain wildlife populations. Meanwhile, the legal status of the species has shifted at the federal level. In 2026, the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed both the northern and southern distinct population segments from the federal Endangered Species Act list following a court order, after previously listing the southern population as endangered and the northern population as threatened in 2022. Despite this federal delisting, Pollock emphasized that the lesser prairie-chicken remains the most endangered bird in the Southern Great Plains.