Oklahoma Council of Quail Unlimited
2509 Wildwood Lane
Norman, OK 73071 405/321-5631

July 28, 1999 QUAIL UNLIMITED ADOPTS PRAIRIE CHICKEN FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Lindell Dillon 405/321-5631 or ledillon@flash.net

The Oklahoma Council of Quail Unlimited has taken the threatened prairie chicken under its wing. At a recent meeting of Oklahoma chapters, the conservation group decided the imperiled Oklahoma birds needed an advocate and adopted a resolution to include them in their upland conservation efforts. "We can't just stand by and watch a species go extinct in our backyard," said Lindell Dillon, vice-chairman of the Oklahoma Council of Quail Unlimited. "These birds are declining rapidly in our state, and there seems to be too little effort to save them, so we decided to get involved," Dillon added. The group, consisting of fifteen chapters across the state, passed a resolution last year opposing any hunting or harassment of lesser or greater prairie chickens in Oklahoma, in an effort to block a move by a group of Tulsa falconers to create a special falconry season on the threatened birds. Skipping the normal procedure of holding public hearings on proposed hunting regulations, the wildlife commission evoked an emergency clause, and granted a special falconry season with no notice. The season was blocked when Gov. Frank Keating refused to sign the emergency provision at the urging of Quail Unlimited and other conservation groups. A two day gun season was cancelled a couple of years ago due to low numbers of chickens, but now a falconry/archery season running from November 1 through February 15 is again being considered by the wildlife department and a series public hearings will be held throughout the state next month to allow for public opinion. The greater prairie chicken is found in tallgrass prairie habitat in eastern Oklahoma, and the lesser prairie chicken, which has been deemed "justified" by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to be listed as a threatened species, is found in midgrass/sand sage/shinnery oak range in the state's far western counties.