Before sunrise on the western Oklahoma prairie, male lesser prairie-chickens gather on traditional breeding grounds called leks and perform a spring courtship dance that has occurred for generations. But the open country surrounding those leks has become increasingly fragmented by cropland conversion, woody encroachment, roads, energy infrastructure and other development. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales, Dave Deken explains why the bird’s future is closely connected to working farms and ranches. Lesser prairie-chickens need broad expanses of grassland and shrubland, and about 95% of their habitat is privately owned. Management such as prescribed grazing, prescribed fire, removing redcedar and mesquite and returning marginal cropland to grass can improve habitat while keeping land in agricultural production. The Conservation Reserve Program can also provide valuable grassland and connections between remaining prairie patches.