A threatened or endangered species on your land, or even potentially on your land, can greatly impact your ability to develop. Much of the west has the mindset of "its my land I can do what I want with it" and along with that comes a great fear/distrust of the government. Lawmakers often don't like it because a listing can be seen as hampering potential job growth. Much of the Prairie Chicken's habitat is being exploited for oil and gas development, and this listing may curtail some of that development. Another problem is simply that much of the west is very anti-Obama, so anything his administration does will be fought, regardless of what it is. If the current administration announced they had a cure for childhood cancer, I'm sure a good number of republican lawmakers would find some reason to fight it. We are a greatly divided country right now.
Also, for a great many people, they will have the opinion that it is just a bird, so who cares? We have lots of birds. Besides, its only a chicken.
Out where I live, the Gunnison Sage Grouse became its own species a few years ago, much to the delight of the town of Gunnison. However, with this new species designation has come some limitations for the local ranchers and seasonal road closures to protect the leks. I think that if you were to ask non-birders in the area, they were prefer the birds to not be here at all.
Mostly, it comes down to perceived personal property rights. This is my land and wildlife be damned. Sad but true.
