Known for its shock of yellow hair and bright orange cheeks, the lesser prairie-chicken once roamed the Great Plains. Today, though, the grouse is under threat — its populations reduced to isolated pockets in western Kansas, Colorado and the Texas-New Mexico border as its habitat succumbs to climate-induced drought, farming, drilling and other human activity.

The group has been petitioning the Fish and Wildlife Service to relist the lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The bird found itself taken off the list after a lawsuit in 2014 backed by the oil and gas industry, which argues that any protective measures would mean added costs for energy developers.

Mr. Salvo has found that to gain allies it doesn’t always help to start with the role climate change plays in harming the bird’s habitat. Instead, his movement has tried to find common ground, highlighting the historical heritage of the lesser prairie-chicken. In the “Little House on the Prairie” novels, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about eating prairie-chicken mush.

Mr. Salvo also stresses how grouse-friendly practices can be good for farming, too, backing a federal program that provides financial aid to private landowners who adopt those practices. Leaving corn stubble standing after harvest gives the birds food and places to hide, for example, while also helping farmers protect the soil.

“Sometimes, to gain allies, it helps to focus on issues of common concern, to support local economic development as well as species conservation,” he said. “It helps everybody come to the table.”

Last week, Mr. Palen, the farmer, was again talking weather — if not climate change — at a conference of no-till farmers in Salina, Kan. Sessions included “Using Your Water Efficiently,” “Making Weather Work for You in 2017” and “Building Healthy Soil With Mob Grazing,” a practice that helps to fertilize the land.

And yes, Mr. Palen says, he is on board with saving the lesser prairie-chicken. “I often think of ways I can protect their habitat,” he said. “I enjoy wildlife.”