ATTWATER’S PRAIRIE-CHICKEN (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) RECOVERY PLAN Second Revision Photo by George Levandoski. Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Albuquerque, New Mexico DISCLAIMER Recovery plans delineate reasonable actions believed necessary to recover and/or protect listed species. Plans are published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), sometimes prepared with the assistance of recovery teams, contractors, State agencies, and others. Objectives will be attained and any necessary funds made available subject to budgetary constraints affecting the parties involved, as well as the need to address other priorities. Nothing in this plan should be construed as a commitment or requirement that any Federal agency obligate or pay funds in contravention of the Anti-Deficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. 1341, or any other law or regulation. Recovery plans do not necessarily represent the views nor the official position or approval of any individuals or agencies involved in the plan formulation, other than the USFWS. They represent the official position of USFWS only after they have been signed by the Regional Director. Approved recovery plans are subject to modification as dictated by new findings, changes in species status, and the completion of recovery actions. LITERATURE CITATION SHOULD READ AS FOLLOWS: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2010. Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken Recovery Plan, Second Revision. Albuquerque, New Mexico. ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE OBTAINED FROM: Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge P.O. Box 519 Eagle Lake, Texas 77434 Or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Region 500 Gold Avenue S.W. Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 Or Downloaded from: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Library/ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Principal authors of this document were Dr. Jim Bergan, Dr. Mike Morrow, and Terry Rossignol. Dr. Jeff Johnson provided feedback and expanded discussion of genetic issues. Dr. Wade Harrell and Tim Anderson provided data for updating maps that were developed by Donna Roach and T. J. Shultz. The document was reviewed and edited by Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken Recovery Team members. Wendy Brown and Kathy Granillo provided initial agency review of the document for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Recovery Team members provided overall recovery objectives and strategies. Members included Hannah Bailey (Houston Zoo, Inc.), Dr. Jim Bergan (The Nature Conservancy of Texas), Dr. Wade Harrell (The Nature Conservancy of Texas), Royce Jurries (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), Bobby McCan (McCan Ranch), Dr. Mike Morrow (Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge), Dr. Brent Ortego (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), Stan Reinke (retired from U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service), Terry Rossignol (Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge), Dr. Steve Sherrod (Sutton Avian Research Center), Dr. Nova Silvy (Texas A&M University), Dr. John Toepfer (Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus, Ltd.), Roger Welder (J. F. Welder Heirs), and Bruce Williams (Fossil Rim Wildlife Center). Dr. Joe Flanagan and Rebecca Chester provided additional advice and assistance. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Current Status and Distribution: The Attwater’s prairie-chicken (APC) (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) was listed as endangered with extinction in 1967. This listing was “grandfathered” into the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. The APC represents the southern-most subspecies of T. cupido, and currently occurs in the wild at only three locations - the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge (Colorado County, Texas), the Texas City Prairie Preserve (Galveston County, Texas), and a private ranch in Goliad County, Texas. Annual counts are conducted every spring on the APC’s booming grounds and approximately 90 birds remained in these 3 populations as of March 2009. Counts for 2010 will be conducted in April. In addition, approximately 157 individuals were held in captivity at the Abilene Zoo (Abilene, Texas), Caldwell Zoo (Tyler, Texas), Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (Glen Rose, Texas), Houston Zoo (Houston, Texas), San Antonio Zoo (San Antonio, Texas), Sea World of Texas (San Antonio, Texas), and Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) as of December 31, 2009. Habitat Requirements: Lehmann (1941:61) described APC habitat requirements as follows: “Optimum prairie chicken range apparently consists of well-drained grassland supporting some weeds or shrubs as well as grasses, the cover varying in density from light to heavy; and with supplies of surface water available in summer. In short, diversification within the grassland type is essential.” Lehmann (1939:7) succinctly summarized habitat needed by APC: “It is therefore upon the existence of adequate prairie habitat that the welfare of the prairie chicken depends.” Reasons for Listing and Limiting Factors: The APC once occupied expansive prairie grasslands of coastal Texas and Louisiana. Habitat destruction and degradation, and to a lesser extent overharvesting, are the primary factors contributing to historic population declines. However, the last APC hunting season was held in 1936. Current threats include extremely small populations, habitat and population fragmentation resulting in genetic isolation, diseases and parasites in both the wild and captive setting, inability of captive breeding facilities to produce large numbers of captive-reared birds that are capable of survival and reproduction in wild habitats, and poor brood survival in wild populations. Recovery Goal: The goal of this plan and recovery effort is to protect and ensure the survival of the APC and its habitat, allowing the population to reach a measurable level of ecological and genetic stability so that it can be reclassified to threatened status (downlisted) and ultimately removed from the endangered species list (delisted). Recovery Strategy: APC recovery must be focused on three primary areas: (1) habitat management, (2) captive and wild population management, and (3) public outreach. It is imperative that habitat management, enhancement, and restoration be carried out to maintain existing grasslands currently suitable as habitat and to restore degraded grasslands. These iv grasslands must be provided at a landscape scale so that multiple areas >25,000 acres (ac) (10,120 hectares (ha)) are available to support viable APC populations and allow for gene flow between them. Population management consists of actions required to manage captive and wild populations. If viable populations are to be established in presently unoccupied but suitable habitat, large (>100) numbers of birds at multiple release sites will be required. It is clear the captive program must be retooled in dramatic fashion to achieve APC recovery. Numerous challenges face the wild APC population. Predation (raptors, mesocarnivores, snakes), red imported fire ants (Solenopsis wagneri), disease, ectoparasites, accidents (flying into fences, wires), flooding, incompatible grazing, altered fire regimes, and countless other factors are collectively suppressing optimal recruitment of the three remaining wild populations. Additional applied research efforts are essential to identify factors limiting recruitment in free-ranging populations, which currently depend heavily on release of captive-reared birds. However, conducting meaningful research with broad ranging applicability is very challenging given the low population numbers and varied grassland habitats at these three sites. An ongoing challenge to recovery has been difficulty in attracting a large constituency engaged in APC conservation. A broader support base is critical for timely implementation of actions required for APC recovery. Recovery Objectives and Criteria: 1. Downlist to threatened status when the overall population maintains a minimum of 3,000 breeding adults annually over a 5-year period and there is sufficient habitat of coastal prairie grasslands (approximately 150,000 ac (60,702 ha)) to support this population. These 3,000 breeding adults should be distributed along a linear distance of no less than 50 miles (80 km) to mitigate for environmental stochasticity (e.g., hurricanes) while maintaining genetic flow. 2. Delist when the overall population reaches a minimum of 6,000 breeding adults annually over a 10-year period and occupying approximately 300,000 ac (121,457 ha) of maintained or improved coastal prairie grassland habitat along a linear distance of no less than 100 miles. The Recovery Criteria address the current threats of Factors A, C, and E. Factor A - loss of habitat is addressed by providing minimum areas of coastal prairie grassland habitat that is maintained or restored. Factors C - disease and predation and Factor E - population fragmentation, lack of gene flow, husbandry issue, and poor brood survival are alleviated when the population reaches minimum sizes of 3,000 and 6,000 breeding adults which are distributed over a linear distance of no more than 50 or 100 miles. Specific objectives and criteria for habitat management, captive and wild population management, and public outreach necessary to accomplish these recovery goals are: Objective 1: Maintain and improve 300,000 ac (121,457 ha) of coastal prairie habitat for APC throughout the bird’s historical range on both private and public lands. APC recovery will require a network of large, high quality coastal prairie habitats containing multiple core areas distributed along at least 100 linear miles (160 km). A core area is defined as an area of habitat capable