The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to designate approximately 8,486 acres of land along 113 stream miles as critical habitat for the Colorado butterfly plant a short-lived perennial herb. Areas under consideration include parts of Platte and Laramie counties in Wyoming; Kimball County in Nebraska; and Weld County in Colorado.
The Colorado butterfly plant was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2000. This critical habitat proposal is in response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation. Todays proposal is made under a court-approved settlement agreement requiring the Service to make a final critical habitat designation for the Colorado butterfly plant by Dec. 31, 2004.
The proposed critical habitat areas are adjacent to Teepee Ring Creek, Bear Creek, Little Bear Creek, Horse Creek,; Lodgepole Creek, Diamond Creek, Spring Creek, and Lone Tree Creek in Wyoming; Lodgepole Creek in Nebraska; and on the Meadow Springs Ranch in Colorado. Details of the critical habitat proposal will be included in the maps and documents that are published along with the rule in the Federal Register.
class=Level1; "The Service is proposing only areas that are essential to the conservation of the Colorado butterfly plant, based on the best scientific information currently available," said Ralph Morgenweck, the Services Director for the Mountain-Prairie Region. To ensure that the final critical habitat designation is as accurate as possible, we encourage people to review our proposal and provide comments and any additional information they believe is relevant. The Service will consider all available information before making a final decision.
Because approximately 90 percent of the habitat in the proposed designation occurs on private land in Wyoming, the Service is working with landowners to protect the Colorado butterfly plant through voluntary conservation agreements. Conservation agreements between landowners and the Service that provide sufficient protection to the Colorado butterfly plant will enable the Service to exclude those parcels of land from a critical habitat designation.
Colorado butterfly habitat located on F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming is not included in this critical habitat proposal because the Base has an approved Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan that addresses the conservation needs of the plant.
An economic analysis of the critical habitat proposal will be prepared and made available for public comment before a final decision is made. The Service may exclude areas from the final description if the benefit of exclusion outweighs the benefit of inclusion. Over the next few months, the Service will be considering whether all the areas proposed for designation are essential to the conservation of the species.
Native plants are important for their ecological, economic, and aesthetic values. Plants play an important role in development of crops that resist disease, insects, and drought. At least 25 percent of prescription drugs contain ingredients derived from plant compounds, including medicine to treat cancer, heart disease, juvenile leukemia, and malaria, and to assist in organ transplants. Plants are also used to develop natural pesticides.
The public will have 60 days after the date of publication to provide comments and additional information. These may be submitted in writing to: Field Supervisor U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming Field Office, 4000 Airport Parkway, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001, or electronically to: fw6_cobutterflyplant@fws.gov. They may also be faxed to 307-772-2358.
opies of the rule and other materials can be downloaded from: http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/plants/cobutterfly
The Colorado butterfly plant is found in moist areas of floodplains and stands 2 to 3 feet tall with one or a few reddish, fuzzy stems and white flowers that turn pink or red with age. Only a few flowers are open at one time and these are located below the rounded buds and above the mature fruits. Non-flowering plants consist of a stemless, basal rosette of oblong, hairless leaves 1 to 7 inches long.
The primary threats to the plant are haying and mowing at certain times of the year, changes in water use, land conversion for cultivation, competition from exotic plants, non-selective use of herbicides, and loss of habitat to urban development.
Critical habitat is a term in the Endangered Species Act. It identifies geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area conservation area
A conservation area is a type of national wildlife refuge that consists primarily or entirely of conservation easements on private lands. These conservation easements support private landowner efforts to protect important habitat for fish and wildlife and major migration corridors while helping to keep agricultural lands in production.
Learn more about conservation area . It does not allow government or public access to private lands.
In 30 years of implementing the Endangered Species Act, the Service has found that the designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection to most listed species, while preventing the Service from using scarce conservation resources for activities with greater conservation benefits.
In almost all cases, recovery of listed species will come through voluntary cooperative partnerships, not regulatory measures such as critical habitat. Habitat is also protected through cooperative measures under the Endangered Species Act including Habitat Conservation Plans, Safe Harbor Agreements, Candidate Conservation Agreements and state programs. In addition, voluntary partnership programs such as the Services Private Stewardship Grants and Partners for Fish and Wildlife program also restore habitat. Habitat for endangered species is provided on many national wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife management areas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
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Visit the Mountain Prairie region website at: http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov
