Conservation groups fight back over LPC

By BRANDON MESSICK
Daily Press Staff Writer
Three wildlife conservation groups filed a suit Tuesday against U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and its FWS Director Daniel M. Ashe contesting the “threatened” status of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act.
This year, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the FWS decided the LPC would be given “threatened” status under the Endangered Species Act but allowed New Mexico’s expanding oil industries and oil-holding counties to continue agreements with the government as to the chicken’s protection. Opponents within the counties say that is too much regulation. Wildlife groups, however, say it isn’t enough. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.