Thanks for sharing your research and film. Can the Greater Prairie Chickens come back or has the habitat been completely degraded? It doesn’t look like they are on the endangered species list, except for what President Biden did for them. I’m not well informed about your area where they live.
The Greater Prairie Chicken population could not rebound to their 19th century numbers, at least not in Illinois. There's just not enough undeveloped land remaining. What could work would be to re-introduce them to more parcels of managed state or federal land. It would be an exhausting, time-consuming, and expensive process. I could see Prairie Chickens brought back to places like Nachusa Grasslands and Midewin Tallgrass Prairie, where bison have been re-introduced. Bison and Prairie-Chickens had a sort of symbiotic relationship prior to the 1800s.
In the Great Plains, where there are more Prairie-Chickens roaming free, there are opportunities to work on private agricultural lands to encourage the birds' expansion or at least stability.
The Greater Prairie-Chicken is state-endangered in Illinois, which doesn't have as much heft as a federally endangered designation. The Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Attwater's Prairie Chicken, birds of the southern plains, are federally endangered and so they have greater protection.
Thanks for sharing your research and film. Can the Greater Prairie Chickens come back or has the habitat been completely degraded? It doesn’t look like they are on the endangered species list, except for what President Biden did for them. I’m not well informed about your area where they live.
The Greater Prairie Chicken population could not rebound to their 19th century numbers, at least not in Illinois. There's just not enough undeveloped land remaining. What could work would be to re-introduce them to more parcels of managed state or federal land. It would be an exhausting, time-consuming, and expensive process. I could see Prairie Chickens brought back to places like Nachusa Grasslands and Midewin Tallgrass Prairie, where bison have been re-introduced. Bison and Prairie-Chickens had a sort of symbiotic relationship prior to the 1800s.
In the Great Plains, where there are more Prairie-Chickens roaming free, there are opportunities to work on private agricultural lands to encourage the birds' expansion or at least stability.
The Greater Prairie-Chicken is state-endangered in Illinois, which doesn't have as much heft as a federally endangered designation. The Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Attwater's Prairie Chicken, birds of the southern plains, are federally endangered and so they have greater protection.
Great footage and great history, thanks for sharing this!
Thanks a lot Bob! I appreciated the documentary, and would love to see these in the wild some day. - Regards, Silas