Two environmental groups are challenging a federal judge’s decision last month to remove Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken that had been in place since 2022.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Texas Campaign for the Environment filed a formal notice of appeal Monday with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the ruling that yanked protections for the bird whose range covers portions of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
U.S. District Judge David Counts of the U.S. District Court for the District of West Texas agreed last month to a Trump administration request to withdraw the 2022 ESA listing decision.
The Fish and Wildlife Service told the court it had found a “serious defect” in the decision the agency made during the Biden administration. FWS says it did not sufficiently justify its decision to list the northern distinct population segment of the lesser prairie chicken as threatened and the southern population of the species as endangered.
