On March 29, 2025, the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition (KNRC) won a victory in the Western District Court of Texas vacating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s 4(d) Rule for the northern and southern distinct population segments(DPS) of the lesser prairie-chicken (LPC).
As a result of that victory, the Trump administration’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed federal Endangered Species protections for the LPC in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas on February 26, 2026. See map of extent of listing.
Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), representing the KNRC, filed their original petition in 2023.
PLF’s petition argued the ESA requires the government to balance conservation efforts with economic impacts on small businesses, such as farmers and ranchers, of their regulations under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFD), but the FWS claimed they didn’t have to consider those impacts under a 4(d) Rule.
Originally, Congress only applied Section 9 “take” provisions against “endangered” species, not “threatened.” The FWS changed that congressional prohibition to include threatened species under a blanket 4(d) rule regulating both the same way.
Under the KNRC case, the Court disagreed and ruled “because Fish and Wildlife is required to consider costs (when listing a species), it must also comply with the RFA.
By removing the protections for the LPC under the burdensome 4(d) Rule, the decision was a “win for common sense, private property rights, and the principle that federal agencies must follow the law just like everyone else,” stated Bob Rein, president of KNRC.
