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The Nature Conservancy Purchases Prime Prairie Chicken Property

(August 6, 2004) – The Nature Conservancy announced today the planned acquisition of the 18,500-acre Creamer Ranch, a place long recognized as the epicenter of the state's lesser prairie chicken core population. The ranch, which has more than 40 lesser prairie chicken leks or breeding display grounds --an extraordinary density -- was purchased from Roy and Shirley Creamer. Located near Milnesand in eastern New Mexico, the Creamer Ranch also provides habitat for the sand dune lizard, another threatened species that is endemic to the area.

"We applaud the actions of Roy and Shirley Creamer who had the foresight to preserve the property," said Bill Waldman, the director of the Conservancy's New Mexico program. "Ninety percent of prairie chicken habitat in New Mexico is on private lands. Many ranches in this area are being converted to center pivot irrigation so it was especially important that this land be protected."

"It's the best chunk of prairie chicken habitat around," says Gary Bell, the Conservancy's director of conservation science. " There are only two remaining patches of grasslands where you can find the lesser prairie chicken. One is in the Kansas-Oklahoma panhandle and the other is in the eastern New Mexico - west Texas area. When you look at these two areas you'll find that the Creamer Ranch is the motherlode for prairie chickens."

The lesser prairie chicken once roamed in abundant numbers over the high plains grasslands of five states, including New Mexico. The Spanish conquistador, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, recorded in 1541 of seeing thousands of them during his exploration of the New World. Yet, since 1900 prairie chicken populations have plummeted by 97 percent.

Grasslands, which make up one-third of New Mexico, are generally regarded as the most endangered ecosystem in North America. Grassland birds were historically found in vast numbers across the prairies of the western Great Plains. Today, the birds of these and other grasslands have shown steeper, more consistent and more geographically widespread declines than any other group of North American species. These losses are a direct result of the declining quality of habitat due to human activities such as conversion of native prairie to agriculture, oil and gas exploration, urban development and suppression of naturally occurring fire.

An attractive bird, the lesser prairie chicken is a member of the grouse family and has sandy brown barring over most of its body that allows the bird to blend in well with the sandy-soiled grasslands in which it lives.(MORE)

Page 2: Nature Conservancy Buys Creamer Ranch

During the spring, just before daybreak, the male birds gather at a lek spreading tail feathers, extending neck feathers and inflating the bright orange sacs on the sides of their necks while making a "booming" noise -- some folks think it sounds like a warbling gobble reminiscent of a turkey -- that can often be heard a mile away. Then for several hours the males display and spar at the lek. This activity is appealing to the female chickens and they come to the lek and select a male.

The Creamer Ranch, which consists of more than 7,500 acres of deeded land and almost 11,000 acres of leased state trust land, is characterized by rolling sand dunes stabilized by shinnery oak, a deciduous shrub that grows in large patches. The cover provided by the knee-high plants is perfect for prairie chickens and, in small open areas with less vegetative cover, for their elaborate mating rituals.

"Shinnery oak is a remarkably well adapted plant," says Bob Findling, director of conservation projects for the Conservancy's New Mexico program. "Eighty percent of its biomass is located below ground. It's a miniature oak forest and it's one of the reasons the prairie chickens thrive here. Shinnery oak can withstand grazing while still providing cover for the birds so they can nest, raise young and avoid predators."

It is a bit of a mystery as to why the lesser prairie chicken has firmly established itself on the Creamer Ranch. Conservancy staff, ranchers and state wildlife officials think it may have something to do with the Creamer's rotational grazing methods for his cattle and the abundance of shinnery oak.

Now that the Conservancy owns the property, the Creamer's will lease it back and continue maintain it as a working ranch, managed in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy for its conservation values. As the Conservancy's first foray into eastern New Mexico, this partnership , as well as a partnership with the Weaver Ranch and collaboration with the State Land Office, federal and state wildlife agencies will greatly improve the lesser prairie chicken's prospects for recovery.

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