Flap Over Rare Butterfly Creates Rift

A checkered butterfly found only in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico is creating a rift between environmentalists and a village with growing pains.

The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., wants an emergency listing of the Cloudcroft checkerspot butterfly as a federally endangered species.

But the village of Cloudcroft, nestled atop the mountains at 8,640 feet and about 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque, wants access to 140 acres of prime butterfly habitat that is now part of the Lincoln National Forest.

The village (population about 750) is asking the U.S. Forest Service for permission to use, and eventually annex, the land.

The village needs the acreage for recreation sites for children, expansion of its sewage treatment plant and for space to store maintenance equipment, administrator Curtis Schrader said.

“What about the kids?” Schrader asked Tuesday. “Aren’t they threatened, sensitive or endangered? Shouldn’t they have adequate recreational areas?”

The butterfly faces imminent extinction, said Noah Greenwald, ecologist for the center. He could not estimate the butterfly’s population.

“The town there, in a way, is really blessed,” Greenwald said. “It’s surrounded by beautiful forest in the Sacramento Mountains. They should recognize that they would be better off protecting the natural state.”

The Southwest Center filed its petition Monday with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has 90 days to determine if a petition warrants further consideration and a year to decide whether a species should be listed.

Another checkerspot--the endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly--has been the source of friction between home builders and conservationists in Riverside County, Calif.

The Cloudcroft butterfly is found only on high meadows in the Sacramentos, within a few miles of the village, Greenwald said. Two inches from wingtip-to-wingtip, the butterfly is checkered with white and deep orange squares separated by black bands.

A 1997 study by Renee Galeano-Popp, a former Forest Service biologist, estimated 6,000 acres of suitable habitat exists for the butterfly, and up to 2,000 acres are managed by the agency, Greenwald said.

At least 70% of the butterfly’s habitat is privately owned and threatened by development, he said. Other threats are campgrounds, grazing, weeds and pesticides.

Cloudcroft has been working for about 10 years to acquire about 140 acres of Forest Service land next to the village. Most of the land would be used for baseball, softball and soccer fields, Schrader said.

The 50 acres for the proposed maintenance yard is most worrisome to Greenwald’s group. The land is prime habitat for the butterfly, he said.

“We understand they have needs too, but we just want them to consider the severity of the situation--that it’s a trade-off between a species going extinct and a maintenance yard,” Greenwald said.

The village has had to fend off other environmental punches in its quest for the land. “Unfortunately, we’ve had to overcome--or we’re trying to overcome--the Mexican spotted owl, the northern goshawk, the Sacramento Mountain salamander, a golden bladderpod and several species of thistles and now the Cloudcroft checkerspot butterfly,” Schrader said.

The environmental groups feel like they are the self-appointed watchdogs “to protect us small communities from ourselves,” he said. “They think we’re out here willy-nilly trying to develop it. That’s not the case.”