Staff writer David Ferrara contributed to this report. In 2015 the Fish and Wildlife Service designated 5,214 acres of protected critical habitat in the Spring Mountains, including almost all of the Lee. Males are dark to dull iridescent blue, and females are brown with a blue overlay. It lives about two weeks, usually mating and laying eggs between June and August.Ĭontact Sabrina Schnur at or 70. The Mount Charleston blue butterfly was protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2013, the same year it experienced a catastrophic loss of its already limited habitat in the Carpenter 1 fire. The wingspan of a Mount Charleston blue butterfly can range from 3/4 to 1 inch. The butterfly was added to the endangered species list after the Carpenter Fire. And while the South Loop has historically contained the most robust population of butterflies out of the three CHUs, at least half of the South Loop CHU burned in the 2013 Carpenter 1 fire-the largest wildfire in the Spring Mountains in recorded history.” The Mount Charleston blue butterfly (Plebejus shasta charlestonensis) is a distinct subspecies of the wider-ranging shasta blue butterfly. “No butterflies have been observed in the North Loop CHU since 1995. “The Lee Canyon (critical habitat unit) is essential to the butterfly’s survival and recovery because it contains approximately half of the total designated critical habitat, as well as a key ‘metapopulation,’” the lawsuit alleges. An assessment of the biology, life history, and status of the Mount Charleston blue butterfly is available in the Species Biological Report. The complaint asks for a judge to stop what it describes as an unlawfully authorized expansion that would include mountain bike trails, zip lines and a roller coaster without considering the impacts on the environment. Forest Service officials did not return messages. “The Mount Charleston blue butterfly hangs by a thread, and we don’t intend to sit idly by while the Forest Service lets a multinational corporation destroy what remains of the species.”Ī spokeswoman with the Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment on the litigation. “It’s outrageous that the government would allow the most important remaining habitat for this beautiful little butterfly to be turned into a downhill-sports amusement park,” Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Nevada director, said in a statement. Fish and Wildlife Service, alleges that plans for expanding the Lee Canyon Ski Area would jeopardize the Mount Charleston blue butterfly’s last remaining habitat. The complaint, filed Thursday in Las Vegas against the U.S. In an effort to save a rare Nevada butterfly from extinction, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit to prevent expansion of a Mount Charleston ski area. (Photo courtesy of Corey Kallstrom, USFWS) The Mount Charleston blue butterfly was added to the endangered species list in 2013.
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