The lesser prairie-chicken lives in five states in the southern Great Plains: Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado.
Lesser prairie-chickens require large expanses of native prairie habitat for their life cycles. Habitat fragmentation by roads, residential and industrial development and conversion of prairie to cropland are two of the biggest threats to prairie-chicken habitat.
In addition to large, intact landscapes, lesser prairie-chickens need habitat with a diverse mix of plants that include grasses, forbs and shrubs.
Prescribed grazing practices can help improve habitat for prairie-chickens by fostering the diversity of plants that prairie-chickens need. Fence marking can help mitigate collisions when temporary or permanent fencing is used for prescribed grazing management.