Bureaucracy no friend to blue butterfly

Launce Rake

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

Flowers are starting to push through the melting snow at Mount Charleston. When they bloom, the butterflies will soon follow.

The stakes for the Mount Charleston blue butterfly couldn't be higher. Isolated to perhaps 50 acres on top of Kyle and Lee canyons, the species is on the precipice of extinction. Last year, Urban Wildlands, a California-based conservation group, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formally designate the species as endangered.

The response has been a flurry of activity by federal agencies, Clark County Comprehensive Planning, the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort at Lee Canyon and a handful of biological researchers. The federal government, however, isn't ready to list the butterfly as endangered.

"Our initial review of your petition does not indicate that an emergency situation exists," wrote Paul Henson, acting manager of the Fish and Wildlife operations office in Sacramento, in a letter to Urban Wildlands.

The federal officials say they are working with the ski resort, which leases land from the federal government, to ensure that critical habitat is not disturbed.

Travis Longcore, Urban Wildlands science director and a UCLA researcher, said he cares more about the preservation of the species than the formal endangered listing.

"I hope and believe that this petition has sparked additional attention to this species and other species in the area," Longcore said Saturday. "That's what people in Las Vegas tell me has happened.

"We're not interested in following every legal avenue, but instead we're looking for action on the ground."

Beth Moore, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the meadows and forests that are home to the Mount Charleston blue butterfly, said work is ongoing. The agency will join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups next week for a two-day conference on the Mount Charleston blue butterfly and other species.

One hole that they will have to consider is funding from the sales of federal land around Las Vegas. The funding was to have provided more than $100,000 for research .

Marci Henson, desert conservation administrator for Clark County, says the funds approved by the federal government won't be available for at least three months - well after butterfly species take flight. She said federal and county approvals are needed before the research can be funded.

"It's just part of the process," Henson said.

Dennis Murphy, a UNR biologist, said the research will move forward even if the county does not release the funds. The alternative for the butterfly is "just too dire."

"The immediacy of the need forces us to move forward using funds from other projects," Murphy said. "Hopefully the money (from land sales) will catch up with our forward progress. We just can't afford to waste a very large part of the season.

The Mount Charleston blue is just one of 11 rare butterfly species to be found within Clark County's Spring Mountains.

"The Spring Mountains have an almost uniquely rich fauna of butterfly species, species that are found in that range and nowhere else," Murphy said.

He said the butterflies face some tough challenges: "The butterflies like the wetter, more forested areas, just like the people do. It's a matter of balancing recreation and habitat protection. It's an astonishingly small area up there and an ever-expanding population in the city below."

Murphy said his research goal is to move quickly and prevent a need to list as endangered the blue butterfly or the other rare species.

Such a listing doesn't ensure protection, he said, evidenced by the dwindling numbers of endangered Devils Hole pupfish in the Amargosa Valley.

Murphy and his research team will go to the mountain within the next several weeks as "flight season" begins for the colorful insects. Mount Charleston blue butterflies appear later than some of their cousins, typically taking flight in late June and July.

Ski resort managers, who could not be reached for comment, have worked with the federal agencies to identify "high-quality vegetation areas" of native plants. Seeds are being collected to help replant areas.

Visitors to the mountain can be part of that collaboration. One issue affecting the Mount Charleston blue butterfly and other species is habitat disruption, often by people and pets wandering through meadows.

Amy LaVoie, Fish and Wildlife biologist, said the blue butterfly is restricted to about four meadows in Kyle and Lee canyons. The federal agencies don't advertise the locations for fear that people will try to collect specimens or deliberately harm the habitat, but they urge people to stay on marked trails in the national forest.

"It's very important for current and future generations to be able to enjoy that beauty up there by staying on the trails, not picking plants or capturing butterflies," she said.

"Leave no trace. Take photos and memories."

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