The puzzle of which came first, the chicken or the egg, could be a metaphor for the prairie chicken and the prairie. One without the other is unthinkable, if not impossible, yet Missouri is close to having prairies without their iconic birds. The Missouri Department of Conservation is trying to bring prairie chickens back from the brink of extirpation, partly for the birds’ own sake but also to give meaning to the ecosystem that spawned them.

The latest effort to restore prairie chickens to western Missouri is a two-phase reintroduction program. Phase one began in late March, when Missouri biologists and volunteers traveled to the Smoky Hills region of central Kansas, where prairie chickens still thrive. There they began trapping the stocky, foot-tall birds. They focused their efforts on “leks,” flat, sparsely vegetated hilltop sites where generations of prairie chickens have gathered to perform their annual mating rituals each spring.

At three such sites, conservationists set out hundreds of feet of 18-inch high chicken wire fencing, arranged in Vs so as to funnel strutting birds into wire cages. After collecting these birds, workers fitted female prairie chickens with tiny radio transmitters and released them.
Males were hustled off to holding pens and taken to Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie, a landscape in southwestern St. Clair County that is owned by The Nature Conservancy of Missouri and managed in cooperation with the Conservation Department. 

A certain number of prairie chickens that are moved to new areas
immediately fly away. By moving males to Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie
immediately, biologists hoped to establish an anchor population of birds
that were acclimated to their new home and attached to it.

Conservation Department crews released 45 male prairie chickens at
Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie. Within days, 11 had relocated to other prairie
remnants as much as 20 miles away. Others fell to predators. In all,
eight males remain at Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie.

“This was the first time we had used this two-phase release method,
so it was hard to know what to expect,” said Private Land
Conservationist Max Alleger, who leads the prairie chicken recovery
effort. “We hope substantially more of the birds we move will stay
where we put them. We wish the results were better right now, but on
balance, I would say we are satisfied.  It takes time to establish a
population that views the local landscape as home.  We hope to get
better as we gain more experience.”

Phase two of the relocation program focuses on female birds. The radio
collars placed on hens earlier enable biologists to track them down at
night, when they are easiest to approach. Crews using chemical
glow-sticks to keep track of and signal each other move in silently and
drop large nets over sleeping birds, along with any chicks hatched since
April. These birds are rushed to Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie.

At last count, Conservation Department crews had captured and relocated
12 hens and 3 chicks.

“We are having good luck catching hens, but the chicks are in good
shape and seem to scatter pretty quick,” said Alleger.

He said crews will continue catching birds until approximately 50 hens
and chicks have been moved to Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie. By 2010 the first
birds hatched and reared at Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie by translocated birds
will join their parents on leks.  Until then, Alleger and his trapping
crews are not likely to know how their efforts are working.

“Our experience so far makes it pretty clear that it will take
several years to see significant results,” said Alleger. “Our plan
is to do this for five years. We can stop sooner if results don’t
justify continuing.”

Although the relocation program is an important facet of efforts to
keep the prairie chicken from dying out in Missouri, Alleger said it
will be futile unless government agencies, citizen conservation groups
and private landowners create a significant amount of habitat for the
birds.

“There is no such thing as a little bit of prairie chicken
habitat,” said Alleger. “These birds need large expanses of open
land to thrive. We have only relatively small, isolated patches of
prairie left in Missouri in public ownership. That means that
public-private partnerships are absolutely critical to success for
prairie chicken restoration.”

Alleger said financial, technical and logistical assistance are
available to help landowners in western Missouri create prairie chicken
habitat while still maintaining their lands’ productivity.

“You don’t have to build a fence around land and never touch it
again,” said Alleger. “Prairie chickens can coexist with farming and
other land uses. Sometimes restoring their habitat is as simple as
burning small areas each year. We work with farmers and ranchers to find
ways to make room for prairie wildlife while still making money.”

Alleger said prairie chickens are only the most spectacular of a whole
suite of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other prairie life
that stand to benefit from more natural management of Missouri’s open
lands.  Bobwhite quail, secretive songbirds, rare butterflies, unique
reptiles and amphibians and a host of other wild things also need
prairie to survive.

“Prairie is one of the least-appreciated natural systems in
Missouri,” he said. “It isn’t like craggy mountains that jump out
and grab your eyes as you drive past. You have to stop and get out of
your car to appreciate the majesty of grassland and the astonishing
variety of plants and animals that live there. Half of Missouri
historically was grassland of some kind. We stand to lose this treasure,
piece by piece, if we don’t act now to save all the pieces.”

For more information, contact Alleger at Max.Alleger@mdc.mo.gov, phone
573-660-885-8179.