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The plight of the Quino checkerspot butterfly has been described by a biologist as “four engines out and about ten seconds to impact.” The Quino checkerspot was once one of the most common butterflies in southern California: at the beginning of the 20th century, millions of these orange-and-black butterflies could be seen each year in a swath extending from the Santa Monica Mountains to Baja California. As recently as the 1950s, the species could still be spotted on every coastal bluff, inland mesa top, and lower mountain slope in the area — but that’s far from true today. With suitable habitat disappearing at breakneck speed, it will take all we can do to prevent this low-flying flutterer from crashing.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1997
CRITICAL HABITAT: Approximately 171,605 acres in California’s Riverside and San Diego counties designated in 2002
RECOVERY PLAN: 2003
RANGE: Eight areas in southwestern Riverside and southern San Diego counties, and four areas in Baja California, Mexico
THREATS: Elimination, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat caused by urban and suburban development, increases in fire frequencies, pesticide spraying, unauthorized trash dumping, exotic plants, impacts from off-road vehicles, and overcollection; on national forest lands, displacement of larval host plants and adult nectar sources, the spread of invasive plants, livestock grazing, predation by exotic invertebrates, off-road vehicle activity, and fire-management practices
POPULATION TREND: Formerly one of the most common butterflies in southern California, the Quino checkerspot now inhabits only eight areas in southwestern Riverside and southern San Diego counties and four in Baja. Of these, all but three populations contained fewer than five individual butterflies in 2000.
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SAVING THE QUINO CHECKERSPOT BUTTERFLY
The Quino checkerspot butterfly was federally listed as an endangered species in 1997 in response to a petition and lawsuit by the Center . In response to another Center lawsuit, 171,605 acres of critical habitat were designated for the butterfly in Riverside and San Diego counties in 2002. However, the designation included little more than half the area of the 301,010 acres originally proposed for protection. Made under the influence of disgraced former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald, this decision contradicted the species’ recovery plan and failed to designate areas known to be essential for the survival of the species. In 2007, the Center challenged the butterfly’s inadequate critical habitat designation — along with wrongful Endangered Species Act decisions made for 54 other species — by submitting a notice of intent to sue the Bush administration for failing to give imperiled species the protections they need to survive.
We’re also working to protect Quino checkerspot habitat on public lands in the southern California national forests. In 2000, the Center reached a landmark legal agreement with the Forest Service to protect more than 50 endangered species in these forests, including the Quino checkerspot. The Forest Service was required to amend forest management plans to address endangered species protections and remove livestock from several sensitive areas. In 2001, the Center submitted a comprehensive conservation plan for the four southern California national forests that would enhance protections for listed species, including protecting habitat for the Quino checkerspot; we’re challenging forest management plans that would allow more environmental damage and harm numerous listed species. In 2004, the Center released a report analyzing the potential effects of the 2003 southern California wildfires on listed species, including the Quino checkerspot. The report called for federal, state, and local agencies to conduct supplemental environmental reviews of projects that may impact these species because baseline conditions have changed as a result of the fires.
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Contact: Jeff Miller
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