http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?.../609050339/1002

Sand Mountain blue butterfly numbers up
JEFF DELONG
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 9/5/2006
ODED BALILTY/BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

A recent count of a unique Nevada butterfly shows the insect thriving in surprising numbers, leading some experts to conclude its listing under the Endangered Species Act may not be necessary.

But one conservation group counters that listing as an endangered or threatened species is likely the only way to save the Sand Mountain blue butterfly from certain extinction.

Opinions continue to differ over the future of the butterfly, which exists only at a set of towering sand dunes near Fallon that are popular to off-roaders.

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to conduct a yearlong review into whether the butterfly should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Officials said the step is justified because off-road vehicles have destroyed much of the dune vegetation, Kearney buckwheat, that the butterfly needs to survive.

The decision came as researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno finished a first-of-its-kind count of the butterfly population. Scientists said they found a thick concentration of butterflies in areas where their host vegetation still survives.

How many?

"Our guess is that there's on the order of a half-million or more butterflies at Sand Mountain," UNR biologist Dennis Murphy said. "The most heartening finding is that the butterfly appears to inhabit all of the dune areas that support its host plant, and there's many tens of thousands of plants still remaining."

Coupled with a soon-to-be finalized conservation plan crafted by Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, local governments, environmentalists and off-road vehicles groups, the encouraging butterfly count could mean the butterfly's listing won't be necessary, Murphy said.

Bob Williams, field supervisor for the Nevada office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, said he is "pretty confident" listing of the butterfly will not be necessary.

"This has proven to be a pretty hardy species in surviving the assault, and that gives me confidence," Murphy said. "It's highly unlikely this species is going to fall off the cliff and disappear."

Not so, counters Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist for the Center for Biological Diversity. That group was among several that petitioned the butterfly for potential listing in 2004 and later sued, alleging U.S. Fish and Wildlife had failed to adequately respond to that petition.

Patterson described the agency's August decision to continue the process that could ultimately end in the butterfly's listing as "very significant" considering a reluctance by the Bush administration to proceed with such actions.

"The situation at Sand Mountain is so dire not even this administration could deny there's a real threat of extinction of the Sand Mountain blue butterfly," Patterson said.

Insights offered

Others insist the conservation strategy offers a strong opportunity to both protect the butterfly and allow continued off-highway vehicle recreation at the dunes. The plan would designate routes where off-road vehicles would be allowed and identify areas where they would be prohibited, among other things.

"We believe we can make it work," said Don Hicks, field manager for the BLM's Carson City district. "I think we can preserve that habitat, avoid listing and still have responsible recreation."

Richard Hilton of the Friends of Sand Mountain, a recreation group, said keeping off-road vehicles away from butterfly habitat may prove challenging but is doable. Listing of the butterfly can be avoided through the conservation strategy, he said.

"That's why we got involved. We don't want to see it listed," Hilton said.

Groups like the Center for Biological Diversity are determined to end all off-road vehicles activity at Sand Mountain, Hilton said.

But Patterson, who said his group was excluded from discussions resulting in the conservation plan, insists it won't go far enough.

"Without a listing, it's going to be difficult to actually get everybody at the table to recover the butterfly," Patterson said. "There is no way that agreement is going to prevent the extinction of the Sand Mountain blue butterfly."

Patterson denied that his group wants to end all off-road recreation at Sand Mountain but said none should be allowed in any area where Kearney buckwheat still exists.

Proceeding with a listing of the species is the only way it can be protected, he said.

"The only thing that really will do it are the laws of our country, which in this case is the Endangered Species Act," Patterson said. "The Endangered Species Act works."

It seems that Danny Boy doesn't look at the information in front of him. Slappy sees dat the biologist knows there are half a million butterflies and tens of thousands of the Kearney Buckwheat. Slap would be interested if there was a count of the butterflies from the past. And, do the butterflies have a predator? If that predator was interrupted because of off-roaders and focused on other forms of food, maybe the butterfly is gaining in numbers? Damn, how much credit can ya give the CBD when they be focused on a single thing, eliminate any form of OHV, no matter what the numbers of critters.

Slap thinks dat a species recovery program or transplantation of the Kearney buckwheat would allow the butterflies to expand to other areas.

Slap,

This is the first "formal" study of the butterfly. BLM, CBD, PEER, etc. all just speculated that since the butterfly's host plant (Kearney Buckwheat) "appears" to have declined over the last 20 years, the butterfly must be in peril.

The butterfly has few predators. Tarantula Hawks will eat the larvae, but that is all I have heard of.

And I have pushed for learning how to grow Kearney Buckwheat for years now. Hard to move the BLM in a direction that might actually make sense.

I think that would be an excellent way to preserve the species crowdog if we learned how to grow the Kearney in other areas. WE can land a man on the moon, I'm sure we can grow a plant somewhere else.