Prairie-Chicken ESA Rule Vacated, Seen as Win for Property Rights and Energy

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is celebrating a major victory after a federal judge vacated the federal government’s decision to list the Lesser Prairie-Chicken as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The decision came on August 12 when U.S. District Judge David Counts ordered the case brought by Texas, the Texas General Land Office, the Texas Railroad Commission, the Texas Department of Agriculture, and the Permian Basin Petroleum Association to be closed. The ruling vacates the 2022 listing rule, which had designated the Northern population of the bird as “threatened” and the Southern population as “endangered.”

“This is an immense victory over government overreach,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “The Biden administration’s improper classification of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken was a clear infringement on property rights and a threat meant to undermine Texas’ booming oil and gas sector. Thankfully, we now have a White House focused on looking after Americans and unleashing U.S. energy independence.”

After President Trump took office in January 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reevaluated the listing and determined that its earlier decision was flawed. The agency admitted it had not provided enough evidence to justify treating the bird’s Northern and Southern populations as separate and significant groups under the law. Without that basis, the designations of threatened and endangered could not stand. The court agreed, granting the request to vacate the rule and sending the matter back to the agency for reconsideration.

Buckingham and other state leaders argued that the original listing threatened Texas landowners and energy producers without clear scientific justification. They point to existing voluntary conservation programs that already help protect the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and its habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will now revisit the issue and expects to make a new determination by late 2026.

This is not the only listing under scrutiny. Earlier this summer, Commissioner Buckingham and the Texas Public Policy Foundation submitted comments to the Department of the Interior urging the agency to remove the Golden-Cheeked Warbler from the endangered species list, citing its steady population growth since 1990.

For Buckingham, the ruling in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken case reinforces the importance of challenging federal decisions she believes go too far. “This decision sends a message that science — not politics — must guide how we protect wildlife,” she said. “Texans will always fight to defend both our natural resources and our way of life.”