Sacramento Mountain Checkerspot Butterfly proposed for listing as endangered
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed that a butterfly native to southeastern New Mexico be listed as endangered.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti) is at risk of extinction, due to the reduction of habitat quality and quantity, specifically the reduction in availability of host plants and nectar sources from overgrazing by large ungulates, recreation, climate change, nonnative plants and an altered wildfire regime," a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release states.
Due to these issues, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly as endangered under the Endangered Species Act due to the butterfly's high risk of extinction, the news release states.
The Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly is only found in a few meadows in the Sacramento Mountains in the Lincoln National Forest.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered with the U.S. Forestry Service, butterfly experts and non-governmental organizations to help restore the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly on the Lincoln National Forest.
"The Forest Service is already taking steps to protect and enhance the butterfly’s habitat by planting specific native species of plants needed by the butterfly to survive," Lincoln National Forest spokeswoman Laura Rabon said. "We have been monitoring the butterfly in the Sacramento Mountains for many years and believe drought plays a large part in its decline. The US Fish and Wildlife identified overgrazing by large ungulates as one of the reasons we have seen a decrease in the species.
"Large ungulates, in this case, include elk, deer, and feral horses. The Checker Spotted Butterfly habitat is not in an active cattle grazing allotment and hasn’t been since the 1980s. The Forest Service is waiting to see how US Fish and Wildlife proceed regarding the listing of the Checker Spotted Butterfly," Rabon said.
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The Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterflies are about two inches wide as adults and members of the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae, the news release states.
The determination to list the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly as endangered came after a team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, with other species experts, collected and analyzed both scientific and commercial data that was available about the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly's status.
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This data include both positive and negative impacts of both the past and present, the news release states.
"This report determined that the butterfly’s small, isolated populations were being threatened by degraded habitat, caused by overgrazing, human recreation, and extreme drought brought on by climate change," the news release states.
Although designating a critical habitat for the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly would be wise, it cannot be done now due to the work of deciding which areas are essential to the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly, the news release states.
These proposed designations of critical habitat are expected to be announced in 2022.
The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 25 and public comment is open until March 28.
How to submit public comment on the proposal
There are several ways to submit comment on the proposal including electronic by going to www.regulations.gov and searching for docket number FWS-R2-ES-2021-0069. It is requested that the docket number not be pasted into the search bar and instead must be typed in manually with hyphens included and click the search button. The search panel on the left side of the screen check the box labels Proposed Rule and click the comment box.
To submit comment by letter, mail the comment to Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R2-ES-2021-0069, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
All comments will be posted to regulations.gov.
For more information, contact Shawn Sartorius, Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113; telephone 505-346-2525. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.
This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Sacramento Mountain Checkerspot Butterfly proposed for endangered list
