Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism

EMPORIA – Landowner/producers can apply to enroll their land in the Lesser-prairie Chicken Conservation Program through Feb 28, according to the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Those with land in the lesser prairie-chicken range willing to implement conservation practices beneficial to lesser-prairie chickens are eligible. Landowner/producers who are accepted will receive a sign-up incentive and payments for implementing conservation practices designed to maximize the value of their property to lesser-prairie chicken. Those practices include mechanical brush removal, prescribed grazing, and establishment and management of planted native grass stands. Only producers not currently enrolled in federal farm bill programs will be eligible to apply for five- and 10-year contract options.

The WAFWA will rank applications based on their value to lesser prairie-chickens and select the highest ranking offers for enrollment. Accepted landowner/producers located in the high-priority locations can receive payments of up to 125 percent of the estimated cost of implementing the conservation plan. If the species becomes federally listed, participating producers will be exempt from the take prohibition of the Endangered Species Act if the take occurs while implementing the practices prescribed in their conservation plan.  Producers who are interested in the program should contact their local state wildlife agency office for more details or to complete an application.

After the sign-up period is complete, the WAFWA will also be developing similar conservation plans for producers who just want to be exempted from the take prohibitions of the ESA. The management prescriptions in these plans won’t be as conservative, and landowners won’t receive payment for implementing them. However, if the species is listed, any take that occurs while implementing the prescribed practices will be exempt from the take prohibitions of the ESA.  Producers interested in this type of conservation plan should also contact their local state wildlife agency.

The WAFWA consists of 23 state and provincial wildlife agencies that have primary responsibility and authority for protecting and managing fish and wildlife in the western United States and Canada.  The state wildlife agencies in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado are members of the WAFWA. Through the WAFWA, those five state wildlife agencies worked cooperatively over the last two years to produce the Lesser-prairie Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan as a means to preclude a federal listing of the species under the ESA. On Oct. 23, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endorsed the RWP as “a comprehensive conservation plan that reflects sound conservation design and strategy that, when implemented, will provide a net conservation benefit to the lesser prairie-chicken.” To date, the RWP is the only plan that has been endorsed by the USFWS and is the only pathway that has the potential to lead to a not warranted final decision. The amount of voluntary enrollment in the RWP will likely weigh heavily into the final listing decision that must be announced by the end of March.

The Big First Tea Party will host Senate hopeful Milton Wolf at its monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Thirsty’s, 2704 Vine.

Wolf, a Leawood radiologist, is offering a primary challenge against longtime Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.

Wolf is perhaps most well-known as cousin of President Barack Obama. He announced his candidacy in October.

Roberts has served in the Senate since 1997. Before that, he served in the U.S. House since 1981.

Today Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 9. Wind chill values as low as -13. Light and variable wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around -3. Wind chill values as low as -14. South southeast wind around 6 mph.
Friday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 17. Wind chill values as low as -19. South wind 7 to 16 mph.
Friday Night Patchy fog after 7pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind chill values as low as -2. South wind 8 to 13 mph.
Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 26. West southwest wind 8 to 14 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6.
Sunday Partly sunny, with a high near 21.
Sunday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 3.
Monday A 30 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 19.

Natural gas prices have spiked in recent days, due to several weeks of record low temperatures and “polar vortexes” hitting large parts of the country, Midwest Energy announced Wednesday. Combined with depleted natural gas storage supplies nationwide, the likely result will be higher gas bills for February and March.

“With all the cold weather last month in the Midwest and Northeast, gas storage supplies are at a five-year low and forecasts for most of the country are calling for below normal temperatures,” said Dixie Riedel, senior gas scheduler for Midwest Energy. “Our two main pipeline suppliers have put out critical notices indicating tighter supplies, and usage remains very high, so we’re having to buy more expensive gas than last month.”

Midwest Energy’s January gas price averaged $4.73 for January, so a home using 140 therms (about 14 million BTUs) used $66.22 in gas. Early February daily prices for gas so far are about 90 cents higher than January; if those prices stay consistent through February, the cost of gas for that same home would climb to $78.82.

“We’re seeing a lot of volatility in daily prices right now; we’ve seen prices on some pipelines above $30 per million BTU,” said Pat Parke, Midwest Energy’s vice president of customer service. “Hopefully, daily prices will moderate later this month and we can offset these higher costs, but we wanted customers to be informed so they’re not surprised when they open their February and March bills.”

Bills vary by customer depending on the size and age of the home, number of gas appliances, number in the household, thermostat settings and levels of insulation.

Midwest Energy has in place a number of tools to help customers manage their energy bills, including energy assistance and efficiency tips, and several payment options. Details for these programs can be found at www.mwenergy.com or by calling (800) 222-3121.

DODGE CITY — The National Weather Service has issues a wind chill advisory from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 10 a.m. Thursday as temperatures reach dangerous lows.

The advisory include most of western Kansas.

The NWS office in Dodge City said wind chills in the region could fall to 15 to 24 degrees below zero, noting that frostbite in these conditions can occur in 30 minutes. The risk of hypothermia also is increased.

Residents should avoid exposed skin and prolonged periods in the outdoors.