Grant Aids Fly Species in Colton

Conservationists and Colton city leaders are hoping that a $2.2-million federal grant will help in efforts to protect the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, an endangered insect whose presence has blocked some developments in the city.

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton awarded the grant money last month. The funds will be used to protect and preserve the fly and several other endangered species in the Colton area, including the Los Angeles pocket mouse, the western burrowing owl and the California gnatcatcher.

“This is an acknowledgment that there are important biological sites here,” said Jane Hendron of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “This grant is a win-win situation for everybody.”

The money will help the city pay 75% of the costs to acquire land for the flies and other species, Hendron said. The other 25% will have to come from the city, private donors or the state. Officials hope the land will help the creatures grow in numbers.

The story of the flower-loving fly has been one of frustration for conservationists and for businesses that have long hoped to develop further in Colton. The fly, orange and brown, is about an inch long. It drinks nectar from flowers and is often compared with a hummingbird.

As advocates of the species fight for its survival, developers and other area businesses have had to battle protectors of the insect to advance their projects.

The fly was put on the endangered species list in 1993, and conservationists in Colton soon acquired 10 acres near the San Bernardino Freeway as a fly preserve. The area is part of the Colton Dunes, of which only 2% remains untouched by development, according to the federal grant report.

Colton wants to develop the 10-acre preserve and surrounding areas. Plans for a recycling plant, new roads and a sports park have been rejected because of the species.

“The question is whether you consider the economic vitality of a community more important than a fly,” said Daryl Parrish, Colton’s city manager. “I think it is.”

Parrish said he hopes the federal grant will help the city buy fly-inhabited land for preservation in outlying areas to allow the city to build in more desirable areas.

But he and conservationists concede that $2.2 million might not go far enough.

Greg Ballmer, an entomology research associate at UC Riverside, said, “A couple million is helpful. However, some of the parcels are very expensive.”

Hendron said that, in any case, the federal government doesn’t favor the kind of land swap Colton is talking about. Federal officials prefer that more land be acquired for the species’ benefit, she said.

It’s unclear how many flies live in the region. Federal officials said they have seen as many as 15 flies alive in one area at a time. They would like that number to rise to 200.

“It is difficult, because the fly population is already dangerously low,” Ballmer said. “Why risk losing even more?”