A bill to remove the lesser prairie-chicken from the lists of threatened species and endangered species published pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, to amend that Act to exclude the lesser prairie-chicken from the authority of that Act, and for other purposes.

S. 171 proposes to remove the lesser prairie-chicken from the lists of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. If enacted, the bill would also prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from designating the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened or endangered in the future, effectively removing it from federal wildlife protection authority.

Currently, the lesser prairie-chicken receives legal protections under the Endangered Species Act, which restricts certain activities that could harm the species or its habitat. Under this bill, those protections would no longer apply. This could affect land management decisions, development projects, and conservation efforts in regions where the species is found, as activities would no longer need to account for impacts on the lesser prairie-chicken.

The bill was introduced in the Senate on January 21, 2025, and is currently under committee consideration. It has not yet been voted on by the full Senate.