Influence of the Conservation Reserve Program on Population Structure, Demography, and Space Use by Greater Prairie-Chickens in Kansas and Nebraska

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is considered the most effective large-scale conservation effort affecting wildlife species in the United States. In the Great Plains, 4.18 million acres of CRP occurs in Kansas and Nebraska, potentially affecting a large number of wildlife species, including many grassland species that may rely on these landscapes for persistence and resilience to dynamic environments.

Few studies have assessed the response of the greater prairie-chicken to the establishment of CRP, a species which has lost much of its historical range and is in decline. Kansas and Nebraska support the majority of extant greater prairie-chickens, though populations face multiple threats which may limit movement among remnant populations.

The Kansas and Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units are partnering with USDA Farm Services Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to evaluate CRP use by greater prairie-chickens.

Goals

The project will hierarchically evaluate the influence of CRP on greater prairie-chicken populations thought the collection of movement, vegetation, and genomic data sets and produce science that will form management actions on CRP enrollment as well as the species in the region.