The love and passion that Lowell Pugh has for prairie chickens has inspired me so much. He is one of the reasons that I started documenting these species.
I met him in 2001 on a cold March morning in Golden City, Missouri. That was also my first encounter with prairie chickens.
Lowell is an emeritus member of the Missouri Prairie Foundation and has observed prairie chickens all his life. Sadly, during these years he has also witnessed a rapid decline of the birds.
At Golden Prairie, the land his family owned before being purchased by the Missouri Prairie Foundation, there was once a healthy population of prairie chickens. In 2001, there were only 3 males and 1 female left.
They are all gone now.
He still hopes to hear a familiar booming call of prairie chickens, and that is my hope as well.