By ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A lizard, a turtle and a fish are prospering in Kansas after spending years on the state’s threatened list.
A Nov. 21 proposal to the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission recommended downgrading the classifications of the broadhead skink, the northern map turtle and the shoal chub from threatened to “species in need of conservation.” Researchers across the state have discovered significant increases in the three species’ known populations.
Jordan Hofmeier, ecological services director for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, said habitat conservation is the largest difference between the two classifications.
Under the needs conservation classification, the three species’ habitats no longer would be conserved, but they would remain protected from capture.
“If we have species on our list that are doing much better than they previously were, we don’t need to spend as much effort in conserving those as we do with some of the other species that are doing much more poorly,” Hofmeier said at a Nov. 21 commission meeting. “It’s a way that we can prioritize our efforts so we can focus on the species that need it the most.”
The three species are “success stories,” Hofmeier said at an Oct. 3 commission meeting. That’s because of strides in documentation and discovery.
The population increases among each species are largely because of more thorough research. Expanded survey areas, greater consideration for habitat diversity and new methods allowed surveyors and experts to better understand the species, according to the proposal, which comes after more than a year of preparation.
Broadhead skinks are smooth and scaly lizards with yellow stripes along their heads and backs. They have been threatened since 1987 and are mostly found in the southwesternmost part of Kansas. They are fond of trees, especially mature oak, and recent studies have shown they also create habitats among dead logs and fallen trees.
At the time of the broadhead skink’s threatened classification, there were only 15 known lizards. In 2015, researchers had identified 55, and by 2023 they had identified roughly 400.
Northern map turtles have short tails, rigid shells and small yellow dots behind each eye. They like to bask in the slow currents of creeks, rivers and lakes, especially in the creeks of eastern Kansas south of the Kansas River and east of the Flint Hills.
The species was listed as threatened in 1993. At that time, surveyors found only 10 turtles using netting traps, but northern map turtles, among other species, have a reputation for acting wary of net traps. According to the wildlife and parks department, “Emporia State University researchers documented 100 individuals from 2017-2019,” using a combination of traps and telescopes.
Shoal chubs are small, silver and black-speckled minnows with brief lifespans. On average, they grow to be no more than three inches and live less than a year. Once considered rare, shoal chubs like to live and spawn in larger rivers, including the Kansas and lower Republican rivers. They were classified as threatened in 2009 when surveyors identified about 1,000 shoal chubs.
State survey crews recently found more than 7,000 shoal chubs.
Endangered is the most at-risk classification under the Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1975. Species also can be classified under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. Twenty-two animal species are on the state’s list. Most are fish or invertebrates like mussels and beetles.
Nearly 30 species are on the state threatened list, and more than 80 are on the list of species in need of conservation. Endangered and threatened species receive the same protections, including habitat conservation and capture prohibitions.
Warren Gfeller, a state wildlife and parks commissioner, wondered if the downlisting means the three species are at a heightened risk of becoming threatened again.
There’s always a potential, Hofmeier said, but the species won’t be ignored if reclassified.
“It gives us the ability to react a little bit better if they do become more imperiled in the future,” Hofmeier said. “But if we find that they’re continuing to do well, then they may get downlisted from species in need of conservation to totally unlisted.”
Three other Kansas species were considered and ultimately rejected for listing changes. They were the black-tailed prairie dog, the coal skink and the greater prairie chicken. All are currently unlisted.