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The MO Department of Conservation is working to bring prairie chickens from Kansas to Missouri in an effort to keep them from becoming extinct in Missouri. KSMU's Michele Skalicky went along as employees went out on a Kansas grassland to try to capture the birds.
It's 2 o'clock in the morning, and we're trudging thru knee-high grass in a field near
Salina, KS. It's pitch black, except for the faint light glow sticks around our necks give off and that means we sometimes trip, step in a low spot or run into a thistle plant. This isn't a job for wimps, for sure.
But it's a job that, if it isn't done, could mean that prairie chickens will one day be extinct in Missouri.
The MO Conservation Department is in KS to capture 50 prairie chicken females or hens to transport back to the Wa Kon Tah prairie in SW MO. It's part of an effort to bring prairie chicken numbers back up and add new birds to the gene pool.
As we head to the place where we'll try to capture prairie chickens, Max Alleger, head of the Conservation Department's Prairie Chicken Translocation Project, tells me that 19 years ago, the department conducted a census and found that there were around 300 of the birds in Missouri. Another census done in 2005 found only around 500 are left. According to Alleger, the reason for the decline is a long-term trend in limited habitat.
Things like hailstorms, a lengthy winter freeze or a period of very wet weather during nesting season can limit the success of incubation. And habitat loss makes the birds more vulnerable.
Missouri used to contain 15 million acres of native prairie. Today there's only ½ of 1% of what used to be here. Steve Klubine, grasslands biologist for the MO Dept. of Conservation, says what's left—whether it's on private or public land—needs to be managed for prairie chickens in order for them to survive in the state. Surprisingly, he says they've found that grazing is critical for prairie chickens to thrive.
Max Alleger says private landowners play a key role in the prairie chicken restoration effort.
According to Alleger, given their historic rates of decline, the Conservation Department predicts that prairie chickens could be gone from MO within a decade without intervention.
So, we head off to try to capture prairie chickens to take back to Missouri.
Catching the birds involves using antennas and receivers to try to track hens that were outfitted with radio transmitters during the capture in the spring as well as dragging a massive net across the ground to throw on top of the birds.
This run wasn't successful.
But, by the time that night's work was finished at 4 in the morning, our team and another team that was working in a nearby area had captured 5 hens and chicks.
Alleger is optimistic the translocation project can work in Missouri. Illinois, which has a situation similar to MO, with limited habitat, has used introductions and extensive habitat management in a fairly small landscape to successfully maintain a prairie chicken population there.
Klubine says for the effort to be successful, though, they may have to keep bringing in more of the birds to Missouri for what he calls an "infusion of genetics."
Why should we care if there are prairie chickens in Missouri? Alleger admits, for some, the issue isn't important.
According to Alleger, prairie chickens aren't essential to the health of a prairie. On the other hand, they're a good indicator of the overall stability of a grassland landscape.
And quail have been a long term downward trend as well, much for the same reason as the prairie chicken's decline.
Those who are a part of the effort in Kansas are in their element. Steve Hill, wildlife biologist in the Kansas City region, says it's exciting to be part of the project.
Aimee Weise, the Conservation Department's Prairie Chicken Monitoring Coordinator, was hired solely for the translocation project.
Conservation Department workers will remain in Kansas for a month or until they capture 50 hens. Those birds will join 47 males that were captured during phase one of the project in the spring.
For KSMU News, I'm Michele Skalicky.
