Paul A. Smith
Prairie chickens are a disappearing Wisconsin treasure. We need to help them survive.
Among the Wisconsin wildlife species that congregate in substantial numbers and put on spectacular breeding displays, three stand out to me: the lake sturgeon, the elk and the greater prairie chicken.
Each spring the sturgeon, many as long as an adult human is tall, mass to spawn in shallow, rocky bends of the Wolf River.
In fall, bull elk bugle and battle in their quests to gather harems of cows in the state’s two primary elk ranges near Clam Lake and Black River Falls.
And with activity typically peaking in April on grasslands in central Wisconsin, the prairie chickens gather on leks, also called dancing or booming grounds, where the males call and display and joust in hopes of attracting a mate.
In an act that must be seen and heard to be believed, the prairie chicken cocks are transformed from wary, beige, chicken-sized birds to dashing, colorful avian superheroes.
The birds emit a low, moaning call, feathers stand up on their heads like horns on a bull and sacs on their throats swell and glow like oranges.
The cocks stomp their feet and twirl in an ageless, feathered tango. At turns rivals face off and leap into the air in a flurry of wings and feet as they attempt to win prime spots on the mating ground.
Every Wisconsin wildlife lover should make a trip to see each of these displays at least once in their lifetime.
The Wisconsin sturgeon population was saved through smart and decisive action by the Department of Natural Resources working in concert with residents of the Lake Winnebago region and is now the envy of the world.
Elk vanished from the Badger State in the 1800s but were reintroduced in 1995; with recent additions from Kentucky, the elk herd appears in very good shape in numbers and genetic diversity.
I’m confident sturgeon and elk will be available for viewing by the public in Wisconsin well into the future.
The prairie chickens, however, are in tough shape.
Their condition could even be described as dire. There’s no guarantee the charismatic birds will be around to awe the next generation of Wisconsinites.
Last year the DNR counted 205 male prairie chickens in its annual survey of booming grounds in central Wisconsin, the lowest total in the 70year history of the work.
The birds were found on four state wildlife areas: Buena Vista (113 male prairie chickens); Paul J. Olson (55); Leola (25); and Mead (12).
No prairie chickens were detected last year at sites in Clark and Taylor counties that held birds until about a decade ago.
The 2019 findings represent a continued, long-term decline of the species in Wisconsin.
“It’s not a happy story,” said Peter Dunn, a UW-Milwaukee biology professor who has studied prairie chickens in Wisconsin and other areas of North America. “But given the circumstances, it’s not a surprise.”
Prairie chickens were historically found throughout the state; in 1941 the species was documented in all 72 counties.
As its name implies, prairie chickens live in open, grassy areas.
But as acreage was developed for agriculture and other human uses,
and as forests have regrown, the bird's required habitat has become rare in Wisconsin. The loss of Wisconsin grasslands led to a drop in the prairie chicken population.
By the middle 20th century the species' decline attracted the attention of famed conservationists Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom. The Hamerstroms' work from 1948-72 highlighted the need to protect the species' habitat if the bird was to survive in Wisconsin.
A cadre of Wisconsin individuals and groups rallied to the aid of prairie chickens and other grassland birds.
Notable among the efforts were those of Milwaukeeans Dory Vallier and Willis Sullivan, founders of the Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus (the Latin name for prairie chicken), and the Dane County Conservation League.
The STCP and Dane County Conservation League purchased more than 12,000 acres in central Wisconsin, including Buena Vista, and donated the land to the state.
Those significant contributions allowed the prairie chicken to retain a foothold in Wisconsin.
But now it looks like that tenuous
Male prairie chickens compete for dominance on a prime dancing ground at Buena Vista Grasslands Wildlife Area near Bancroft in Portage County. grip is loosening.
The Wisconsin population of prairie chickens is subject to two primary, negative forces, Dunn said: a lack of habitat and a lack of genetic variation. And the first is hastening the second.
Without adequate connectivity between different populations of birds in different blocks of habitat, Dunn said, the result is inbreeding and reduced productivity.
“In small, isolated populations you see a continual erosion of genetic variation and it manifests in a lack of breeding success,” Dunn said.
The Wisconsin prairie chicken population got a temporary infusion of new genes when about 100 hens were transferred from Minnesota to Buena Vista from 2006 to 2008.
The effect wasn't lasting, however; UWM research in 2013 found the genetic diversity was about the same as before the project.
Further, the remaining prairie chicken habitat has continued to suffer from a variety of forces, including private landowners converting grassland to row crops.
One parcel was recently converted to a cranberry farm, Dunn said.
Rather than less, it's obvious the prairie chickens require significantly more habitat. Such grassland, however, is expensive to purchase.
The troubled state of prairie chickens in Wisconsin caused the Natural Resources Board to ask the DNR last year to renew its management plan for the species.
The DNR has formed a Greater Prairie Chicken Advisory Committee to take up the charge. It has 12 members, including Mark Witecha, DNR upland wildlife ecologist as chair, as well as representatives of the Dane County Conservation League, Portage County, Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and Great Lakes
Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Their task is as difficult as any facing a wildlife committee in the state.
Kent Van Horn, DNR manager of bird and habitat conservation, is overseeing the work.
“I want the team to put together alternatives, including a best cast scenario,” Van Horn said. “Maybe it will be something we don't currently have the resources to attain, but lets bring up a range of options and to help inform decisions about where we go from here.”
Van Horn said the DNR would likely hold meetings this summer to engage the public in the process.
After viewing prairie chickens on a dancing ground in 1961 and hearing of the species decline, STCP co-founder Sullivan said: “It was like learning a long-forgotten friend was in trouble.”
Nearly 60 years later the charismatic, native species is facing even greater challenges.
Now, though, the dangers and the solutions are thoroughly understood by scientists.
It will be up to humans to decide whether the required investments will be made to allow prairie chickens to continue to live in Wisconsin.
In the cases of sturgeon and elk, we were up to the task. Future generations of Wisconsinites will be far poorer if we fail to save the prairie chicken.