Features
Refuge Gallery
Enjoy photos of the refuge's namesake bird and an iconic symbol of prairie ecosystems, the Attwater's prairie-chicken.
See the birds
Saving the Prairie Ecosystem
The refuge uses many different tools and strategies to maintain and restore the coastal Texas prairies.
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Saving the Attwater's
This excellent video tells the story of the efforts to bring back the Attwater's.
Texas Parks & Wildlife Video
Many birds depend on insects as a food source for their chicks. Red imported fire ants decimate insect numbers on the prairie to the point that there are not enough insects for young prairie-chicken chicks to feed on when they hatch in the spring. That’s why the refuge is going after the ants.
Learn more...About the NWRS
The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants.
Learn more about the NWRS
Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge staff are part of the Prairie Seed Council (PSC), a recently developed organization of conservation partners working to increase the native seed bank for upper Texas coastal prairie restoration. We regularly engage in native seed collection efforts and encourage volunteers to join us.
More about the Prairie Seed Council
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More than a century ago, up to one million Attwater’s prairie-chickens graced the coastal prairies of Texas and Louisiana. Each spring, males gathered to perform an elaborate courtship ritual. They inflated their yellow air sacs and emitted a strange, booming sound across a sea of grasses.
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Page Photo Credits — All photos courtesy of USFWS unless otherwise noted.
Last Updated: Oct 30, 2012