Prairie chicken management plan up for review

Paul A. Smith
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A male prairie chicken performs part of its mating dance on a lek at the Buena Vista Grassland Wildlife Area near Bancroft in Portage County on April 4, 2013.

The Department of Natural Resources has released a draft of an updated Wisconsin greater prairie chicken management plan and will host a virtual public meeting Tuesday to present information and options for the future of the threatened, native bird.

Prairie chickens are one of the most unique and charismatic wildlife species in Wisconsin, with males performing dancing rituals on breeding grounds, or leks, each spring.

The species was abundant in the state prior to 1830, according to the DNR, and relied on the extensive prairies and oak openings found at the time in the state.

Habitat loss due to increased agriculture and forest encroachment have caused large shifts in the range and abundance of prairie chickens, and today the birds exist only in isolated areas in a small portion of central Wisconsin.

The 205 male prairie chickens counted in 2019 in Wisconsin was the lowest in more than 50 years and continued a long-term trend of declining numbers as well as active leks. The count was not performed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no results are available for 2021.

The prairie chicken is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need and was listed as state threatened in Wisconsin in 1979.

The existing plan, which covered 2004-14 and was approved by the Natural Resources Board, set a goal of adding 15,000 acres to the Central Wisconsin Grassland Conservation Area. However, progress was slim, with only 3,488 acres acquired and 1,636 acres protected through long-term easements.

Further, the species' potential range has been reduced mostly due to forest encroachment, intensive row-crop agriculture and development, according to several studies cited in the draft plan.

Prairie chickens are now found only in four sub-populations centered on four DNR Wildlife Areas - Leola, Buena Vista, Paul J. Olson and George W. Mead - where considerable grassland reserves exist. The properties are in Adams, Portage, Wood and Marathon counties.

In addition to low numbers, there is a concern of loss of genetic diversity due to the increasingly isolated populations of the birds.

The state's Prairie Chicken Management Plan Team has been working to update the species' plan and recently released the 2022-32 draft.

"The greater prairie-chicken in Wisconsin has a rich and storied history,” said Alaina Gerrits, DNR wildlife biologist, in a statement. “We’re looking forward to gathering public input on the best path forward for managing this species into the future. The drafting of this plan was based on the best available science and highlights the critical requirements of landscape-level management for this species which has specific habitat needs.”

It presents four options for management of the species, each with different funding needs and expected outcomes. 

They range from relatively intensive management including adding habitat, translocating birds and dedicating full-time DNR staff to the project to discontinuing work specific to prairie chickens.

DNR staff will present the draft plan to the public during a virtual open house session from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday.

The public is encouraged to submit comments regarding the draft prairie chicken management plan no later than Feb. 18. Submit comments by email to Alaina.Gerrits@wisconsin.gov or by mail to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, C/O Alaina Gerrits - Bureau of Wildlife Management, P.O. Box 199 Wausaukee, WI 54177.

More CWD detections, meetings planned: The DNR last week confirmed positive tests for chronic wasting disease in wild deer in Monroe and Oconto counties.

The results represent the first time CWD has been detected in wild deer in the counties. 

As required by state law, the findings renew deer baiting and feeding bans in the counties. 

Monroe County had been under a previous ban due to a CWD-positive deer found in 2017 in Vernon County.

Oconto County had been under a ban due to a deer farm in the county that has had 321 CWD-positive deer detected over the last five years. The facility, which includes a shooting preserve, has been allowed to continue its operations by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The Monroe County CWD cases were two bucks killed during the 2021 hunting season in the towns of Ridgeville and Glendale.

The Oconto County case was a 1-year-old buck killed by a hunter in the Town of Underhill during the 2021 gun season.

Each county will have a three-year ban extended. The Oconto Case also causes a two-year ban in Menominee County, since the animal was killed within 10 miles of the county border.

Virtual informational meetings are planned in to discuss the findings. In Monroe County, the meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Feb. 3. In Oconto, the meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Feb. 1. Visit dnr.wi.gov for details.

CWD is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases. The Wisconsin DNR began monitoring the state's wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.