ODWC Lesser Prairie Chicken CCAA Amendments.pdf

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) has requested an amendment to their existing agricultural Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; LEPC) in Oklahoma. The proposed amendment would be to increase the net conservation benefit of the CCAA for the LEPC by increasing the targeted number of acres for enrollment from the current maximum of 400,000 acres to a maximum of 1 million acres across 14 counties in Oklahoma. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has carefully considered the requested amendment. We concur that enrollment of 1 million acres under the CCAA is feasible and that increasing the number of acres eligible for enrollment would increase the net conservation benefit for the LEPC in Oklahoma and contribute to the species’ conservation across the entirety of its range.