In some conservative circles it sometimes seems that the Endangered Species Act along with the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service that are its field army are philosophically just this side of, oh, Stalinism in cruel tyranny and blindness to common sense. So it is little surprise that in Kansas, perhaps the reddest of red states, a move to put the lesser prairie chicken on the endangered species list has stirred up a ruckus. This is not an obscure bird in the state – Audubon of Kansas, an independent confederation of the national org’s local chapters, uses its image in its logo.
The news crossed these eyes this morning that its governor, Sam Brownback, announced a plan this week to help persuade federal agencies to take the birds back off the list. State-operated prairie chicken coops, he said, can replenish wild ones, supposedly:
- AP – John Hanna: Kansas to pursue prairie chicken breeding program; Second graf says the conservation-minded Audubon of Kansas’s biologists have no confidence that such a program would work and is not cheap, a last-ditch move sensible only for species teetering on extinction. Hanna’s is a solid piece of breaking news writing. He includes the list of states that the FWS’s decision affects and the history of Kansas’s moves in opposition. Opinion from a few more wildlife biologists would be good, but what is here is a balanced account.
Curiosity aroused, a hunt for accounts by local media initially found nothing but pick up of the AP, The Kansas City Star included. That paper however has, via its parent chain, covered the issue as it has unfolded including this in March:
- KC Star/McClatchy DC Bureau – Lindsay Wise: States’ feathers ruffled as feds declare lesser prairie chicken threatened ; A wide-angle view of the bird, its declining population going back a century, and the “battle over states rights” that looked likely when the Fish and Wildlife Service announced its designation.
However I delayed things by checking the Kansas City Star first. It is after all the easiest Kansas newspaper to think of. The largest paper in the state is also a McClatchy operation. It similarly used AP for this week’s breaking story on the decision and frequently runs material from McClatchy’s DC bureau on issues such as this. But its local staff also, one sees, includes an outdoors photographer/writer who has kept his eye on the lesser prairie chicken issue. Here is the reax to the governor’s move:
- Wichita Eagle – Michael Pearce : Conservationists: Brownback plan for prairie chickens is for the birds ; Several experts consulted, including some who – while not backing captive breeding as a solution – agree with arguments that the recent decline in the birds’ population is not so much human development as the drought. While things are still dry, last year was far drier. Recent spring rains have been followed by a healthy batch of lesser prairie chicken chicks. Very lively set of comments with this, too, with left and right punching away toe to toe in reasonably (by today’s standards) civil terms.
Others The Eagle has written on the issue:
- Bryan Lowry (June 17) Environmental groups file lawsuit to protect lesser prairie chickens ;
- Michael Pearce (March 30, update June 30) Wildlife, conservation bills stir strong feelings in Kansas ; From lefty Earth-lovers to righties worried that conservation of animals should not forbid land owners from developing their property, lots of conservation-politics polarization on parade.
- Bryan Lowry (Mar 28) Kansas will join lawsuit over federal listing of lesser prairie chicken ;
The lesson? Aside from opportunity to learn a lot more than most of us had known about the lesser prairie chicken, it is that Kansas media appear to be providing balanced coverage of hot-button issues such as governmental intervention to protect wildlife from some of the things land owners like to do on their property.
Here’s one more – from the right side of the media spectrum:
- Kansas Watchdog.org – Travis Perry: Prairie chicken killing jobs in western Kansas ; Here is what a hard-working worker in the state’s oil patch may spend his time doing: “Hopes he doesn’t hear the booming call of the now-infamous lesser prairie chicken.” Nice job of it, actually, regardless of its political stance. Perry knows how to write a punchy, persuasive account. The piece is not overtly hostile to the birds, but does not relay anybody’s opinion that their protection might take precedent over freedom of property owners to do as they please either. One also learns that the innocuous-sounding “Kansas Natural Resources Coalition” has as an organizing purpose to “fight the perceived power grab by the federal government.”
Grist for the Mill: Kansas Office of the GovernorPress Releases: Governor Brownback responds to pattern of intrusion into Kansas agricultural and ranching operations ; Governor Sam Brownback issues statement on new laswuite to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as ‘endangered’ ;
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