As agencies bicker, a butterfly species loses ground

A special arrangement between Clark County and federal agencies has made life easier for developers and fueled Southern Nevadas explosive growth since 2001.

But to assess that arrangements success in protecting endangered animals, insects and plants which was its main purpose advocates for those species say take a look at the Mount Charleston blue butterfly.

Or, rather, look for one.

Find the little fella and youve made an important discovery because most experts believe the species is extinct despite the government agreements that were, among other things, supposed to protect the creatures very limited habitat.

Under the Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, the formal name for the arrangement, the Forest Service got funding for research, Fish and Wildlife avoided lengthy and costly taxpayer funded endangered species evaluations, and

the county and its developers got fast-tracked construction.

It was a win-win for everybody to work together, said Bob Williams, field supervisor for the Nevada office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

But the butterflies are falling into the loss category, he acknowledges, and theres little being done about it. Because, in their case, the cooperation broke down.

Eight years ago, Clark County got a permit from U.S. Fish and Wildlife to allow developers in certain areas of the county to forgo the usual federal environmental review and habitat preservation requirements. The developers pay a county-run program $550 an acre, and that program takes on the responsibility for mitigating the expected impacts of all that development.

But when the agreement was forged, the permit holders the county and the cities within it didnt just agree to conservation work for the species that live in the 145,000 acres where the development was to occur. The county signed on to fund conservation efforts for 78 species across the entire county.

In the plan were certain projects that had to be funded. The most well known were desert tortoise rescue efforts. But there was also a long list of other sensitive or rare plants and animals that could benefit from conservation funding. The county program wasnt required to take specific action every year to protect each one, but it was expected to consider the needs of all the listed species when prioritizing funding and to cover measurable species and habitat protection of all species listed in the plan, according to a filing in the Federal Register.

On that list were four rare butterflies that live in only one place in the world high up in the Spring Mountains.

Last week, the county and federal agencies that manage the Conservation Plan began a series of public meetings on a proposed amendment to the plan that would add 215,000 acres but reduce the number of species covered. Some of the early talk indicates the county wants to cover only species on the valley floor formally washing its hands of the butterflies.

A month before the meetings began, however, a local butterfly expert filed a federal Endangered Species Act petition with Fish and Wildlife. His filing highlights the failures of the partnership and of the management of the butterflies habitat by the Forest Service. The petition notes the likely extinction of the Mount Charleston blue and warns that another butterfly, the Spring Mountain acastus checkerspot, is headed for the same fate.

The Mount Charleston blue was turned down for endangered species listing in 2006 under the reasoning that the protection of the county and Forest Service conservation plans was adequate. One was last seen by camera-toting hikers in 2007.

The number of acastus checkerspot butterflies is believed to be dwindling, too. No one knows for sure because, according to Forest Service records, there havent been enough butterfly surveys to tell.

The four meadows in which the remaining checkerspots live are threatened by development, recreational activities and mismanagement, according to Bill Boyd, the local wildlife consultant who filed the petition. He says critical checkerspot habitat was cut back in the name of fire safety at the height of its 2007 mating season, and the Forest Service has plans to build a trail through other parts. The Forest Service acknowledges the trimming mistake, but says its trail will go around the butterflys meadow.

Boyd also said the lack of comprehensive monitoring and research on the butterflies puts them at further risk because wildlife managers wont have any idea how to save them.

Boyd, 58, of Henderson, was once the go-to guy for butterfly research in the Spring Mountains, but he has become persona non grata to government conservation workers. Behind closed doors, he has had numerous disagreements over how the butterflies should be studied and monitored.

But few question his bona fides.Boyd isnt a scientist, but he knows more about the Spring Mountain butterflies than anyone else around.

Boyd acknowledges hes not the most unbiased party. His consulting company hasnt had a major county contract since 2003. He said he can no longer just sit here while these butterflies go extinct.

Federal agencies and the county managers of the conservation plan are blaming each other for that prospect. The county says its the Forest Services job to take care of the butterflies and to bring forward funding proposals for butterfly conservation. The county cant help if that hasnt always been done, said Marci Henson, manager of the countys Desert Conservation Program. The Forest Service counters that the county process has become too cumbersome to work with. The agency has gotten some funding under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act but largely had to make due with studies done with limited federal dollars or undertaken for the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

Fish and Wildlife, which has the ultimate say on the amendment and is charged with making sure the original permits measures are followed, says all the parties including Fish and Wildlife share the blame.

Everybody does have some culpability, said Williams, the agencys field supervisor in Nevada.

Before the multigovernment plan was in place, the butterflies were supposed to be monitored and protected by the Forest Service, which has jurisdiction over most of the land where the butterflies live.

Under the Forest Service conservation plan, the checkerspot, Mount Charleston blue and two other supersensitive butterfly species in the Spring Mountains are supposed to be studied and monitored and their habitats protected. Forest Service records indicate it has worked to enhance habitat and to keep wild horses, burros and hikers out of key habitat areas.

But federal money for such projects was tight, and in 2001 the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan opened up a funding source. And for a few years at least, the money flowed.

In 2006 the committee charged with funding the conservation programs came under fire after a Sun investigation found conflicts of interest abounded on the committee. Accusations of cronyism were flying and there seemed to be no accountability for what projects got funded, how much was spent or what it was spent for.

The county claimed at the time that federal agencies had too much power over the program management. Committee members representing federal agencies had their requests rubber-stamped. The committees priorities were out of whack, the county said at the time.

The committee was disbanded and the county tightened the reins.

Federal agencies complain that it became harder to get funding for conservation not directly tied to the development activity. Contractors and federal employees were required to account for every penny spent and mile driven, among other things.

Contracting is important and there needs to be adequate accounting, Fish and Wildlifes Williams said. But the county is making unrealistic demands to a point where you cant do the job.

Henson counters that it couldnt have been too hard. About 120 projects have been successfully contracted out in recent years under the plan. Between Conservation Plan money and Southern Nevada Lands Act money, the county has spent about $88 million on conservation, she said.

She said every butterfly proposal that hit her desk was ultimately funded.

Since the committees disbanding, the county has paid for a few smaller-scale butterfly projects surveys of individual butterflies or specific habitat areas. It also funded a large landscape survey on the mountain that included some butterfly habitat. Three county-funded projects related to butterflies have been completed in that time.

But for the past three or four years, the county, Fish and Wildlife and the Forest Service have known they needed a large-scale, multiyear butterfly research project. Butterfly species were believed to be in decline and nobody was quite sure why.

In 2007, University of Nevada, Reno, butterfly researcher Dennis Murphy got county funding to do the needed research. The county was to pay his team $115,700 to count butterflies, examine habitat and figure what was going on with all 11 butterfly species in the Spring Mountains. Within months the contract was pulled. The county says Murphy simply didnt do the work. Murphy says he did the work but because of extreme drought conditions that year, he couldnt draw the definitive population habitat boundaries the county contract required. And the county wasnt willing to accept a tentative boundary map that wouldnt be finalized until the second year of the contract.

The research project hasnt been resurrected and the butterflies are still believed to be declining.

Henson said the remaining $85,700 from the Murphy contract was rebid to another firm this year to do the work she says Murphy didnt do.

But county records indicate the firm, Pinyon Environmental, was hired simply to try to find Mount Charleston blue butterflies. The company hasnt been charged with finding out why the butterflies have disappeared.

Murphy says that for the Mount Charleston blue, it doesnt need to. He figured that out in 2008 when the ski resort hired him and Boyd to study why that butterflys numbers were dwindling.

All that needed to be done to save the Mount Charleston blue was to cut down some trees and brush that had grown up in the past two decades and restore the original wildflower meadows. If Pinyon Environmental finds any butterflies, this still could be done.

But its not so simple for the acastus checkerspot and the other rare butterflies. Nobody knows why their numbers are dropping.

Were suffering now greatly because we dont have the information that we really could use and should have at our disposal to make these decisions, Williams said.

To figure that out, somebody needs to fund the butterfly research Murphy abandoned in 2007. Had this study been done two years ago, the Forest Service could be well on its way to doing whatever is needed to save the butterflies.

But now that doing this work has become critical, the county wants to drop the butterflies entirely.

Were at an impasse with the county, Williams said. Im not sure were going to be able to get something done quickly with them for the butterflies, so it falls to the Forest Service to try to find the funds.

The county is seeking to remove the butterflies, and other plants and animals, from the Conservation Plans species list. The county doesnt want to fund research and monitoring of sensitive species in areas where little or no development under the permit is expected.

Theres very little development activity to offset on Mount Charleston, Henson said. So the county thinks managing wildlife conservation there should go back to the federal agency that runs the land.

The feds disagree. The majority of the countys mitigation and conservation work takes place on federal land its part of the reason the fee developers pay is so low. And the county agreed eight years ago to do conservation work on Mount Charleston. It cant just ignore some species because they arent near development or because another agency isnt submitting proposals, Williams said. The county has ultimate responsibility to ensure the plan is well managed and conservation efforts take place. That means looking at all the species on the list and doing everything possible to keep the most sensitive species from going extinct.

Murphy, Boyd and others are hoping the county or one of the other governmental agencies involved hurries up and does so, before its too late.

Stephanie Tavares can be reached at 259-4059 or at [e-mail].