Sporting bright-orange inflatable air sacs, the Attwater’s prairie chicken has long been a feature of the Texas and Louisiana landscapes. Their numbers were once so plentiful that cowboys relied upon them for fresh meat while herding cattle far from the ranch. With the introduction of agriculture, woody species invasion, and human settlement, though, habitat loss caused this notable member of the grouse family to decline in the early 1900s, and eventually verge on extinction in Texas. Louisiana saw the species’s total demise. This year, thanks to decades of concerted conservation efforts, Attwater’s prairie chickens are rebounding. A recent survey from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy in Texas heralded the good news. Protections for the species began as early as 1937 with the closure of hunting season and other efforts, to allow their numbers to recover. In 1967, the species was among the very first placed …