Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, is a federally protected refugium encompassing one of the largest remnants of coastal prairie habitat remaining in southeast Texas, United States and home to one of the last populations of the critically endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken, a ground-dwelling grouse of the coastal prairie ecosystem.
The 10,528 acre (43 km²) refuge, located in eastern Colorado County, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of Houston, Texas, was established in 1972, and is one of a handful of national wildlife refuges managed specifically for an endangered species.
In the mid-1960s, the World Wildlife Fund purchased 3,500 acres (14 km2) of land to preserve some remaining coastal prairie for the Attwater's Prairie Chicken. The land was transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1972, which brought the refuge up to its current acreage.
Many of the Attwater's Prairie Chickens in the refuge are hatched at captive breeding programs at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Texas A&M University, SeaWorld San Antonio, Abilene Zoo, Caldwell Zoo, Houston Zoo and San Antonio Zoo. Chicks are fitted with a radio transmitter and released at the refuge once they are capable of independent survival.
To maintain the prairie ecosystem, the refuge staff does prescribed burns of 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) to 3,000 acres (12 km2) annually in January or February. The burns help invigorate the grasses by removing dead stems and control the growth of brush and invasive species of plants. The staff also converts formerly cultivated land in the refuge back to prairie by replanting native grasses.
Over 250 species of birds in addition to the Attwater's Prairie Chicken have been observed in the refuge. Some of these include the Fulvous Whistling Duck, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, White-tailed Hawk, Northern Caracara, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Dickcissel, Roseate Spoonbill, Anhinga, Sprague's Pipit and Sandhill Crane. Mammals in the refuge include Plains Bison, Thirteen-lined ground squirrel, and White-tailed deer.
The refuge has a five mile (8 km) auto tour loop and two hiking trails. The Pipit Trail is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and the Sycamore Trail is 1.2 miles (1.9 km).
Famous quotes containing the words prairie, chicken, national, wildlife and/or refuge:
“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“Sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn’t roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don’t want him yourself you can easy find somebody that does, and a good deed ain’t ever forgot. I never see papa when he didn’t want the chicken himself, but that is what he used to say, anyway.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)