Okla.: Utility OG&E makes wildlife donation

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. has donated $3.75 million to the Oklahoma Wildlife Commission to mitigate the loss of habitat for the lesser prairie chicken.

OG&E made the donation during the commission's meeting Wednesday. It will allow the commission to purchase up to 10,000 acres to set aside as habitat for the lesser prairie chicken in western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The lesser prairie chicken is a stocky ground-dwelling bird found in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. But OG&E spokesman Paul Renfrow says some of its habitat is being lost to a wind farm and transmission lines the utility is building in western Oklahoma.

Renfrow says the donation will allow the commission to protect other habitat and enhance the bird's population.