Colorado spends nearly $2m on 2,100-acre ranch to help prairie chickens recover

Colorado’s lesser prairie-chicken population has fallen from more than 80,000 birds in 1975 to just 89 breeding males, according to a 2024 data. To restore the population of the critically threatened grassland bird, nearly 2,100 acres of land in the state’s southeastern plains have now been acquired.The Southern Plains Land Trust bought the former private ranch in August for just under $2 million through grants and donations, Rocky Mountain PBS reported. The property is in Kiowa County and lies next to the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.The land trust will work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to restore the property. Work is expected to begin next winter or spring, with the aim of allowing the grassland to recover and restoring key plant species needed by lesser prairie-chickens.The location of the new preserve is within 10 miles of an active lesser prairie-chicken “lek”.