Protection sought for rare mountain butterfly

CARLSBAD, N.M. – A small butterfly once dwelled in large numbers throughout the meadows of the Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico.

It feasted on the nectar of the orange sneezewood at elevations as high as 9,000 feet above sea level.

But as climate change and development continue to grow in the area, conservationists worry the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly could be one of the most endangered in the U.S.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition this week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking to list the butterfly as “endangered,” the highest protection possible under the Endangered Species Act.

The petition argued the butterfly has declined rapidly since the agency began formal surveys in 1999 and today is almost undetectable in its historic range.

Like many indicator species, the decline of the butterfly could mean its habitat is shrinking and that forms of vegetation the checkerspot needs to survive are being lost.

“The sharp decline of the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly is alarming,” said Tara Cornelisse, an entomologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope it’s not too late to save it.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service originally proposed to list the butterfly as endangered in 2001, and a conservation plan was released in 2004.

In 2008, the agency filed a 90-day finding that a listing might be warranted, but after a subsequent 12-month finding was completed in 2009, the federal government decided a listing was not needed, citing a lack of data.

Threats to the butterfly were identified as livestock grazing and motorized recreation, according to a report from the Center for Biological Diversity, along with invasive species, fire suppression and climate change.