SAN DIEGO鈥擳he U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dec. 20 declared聽one of Southern California’s rarest butterflies鈥攖he Hermes copper butterfly鈥攁s a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
agency also designated 35,000 acres in San Diego County as a protected critical habitat.聽 butterfly declined from at least 57 historical populations to only聽26 populations in a survey this year.
“ Hermes copper butterfly is one of several threatened or聽endangered butterflies in our region,” said Paul Souza, regional director for聽the agency’s California-Great Basin Region.
“We are also issuing a special rule that will provide flexibility for聽our partners engaged in important wildfire prevention and species research聽activities while providing protection for this rare butterfly.”
rule tailors protection for the species while allowing activities聽that do not harm recovery, including habitat restoration, species research and聽management of fuel breaks to reduce wildfire threats.
Center for Biological Diversity had been fighting for nearly 30聽years to gain protection for this species.
“Without Endangered Species Act protection, the Hermes copper聽butterfly would surely be pushed into extinction by Southern California’s聽rampant development, wildfires driven by climate change and invasive plants,” said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the center. “I’m relieved to聽finally see this beautiful little butterfly and its habitat protected.”
small, bright yellow-orange, spotted Hermes copper is found only聽in San Diego County and northwestern Baja California, Mexico, where it inhabits聽coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats. Its survival depends on dwindling聽patches of its host plant, the spiny redberry.
center said that increasingly frequent and severe wildfires have聽also ravaged the butterfly’s primary source of nectar, the California聽buckwheat.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also warned that a single聽large wildfire could wipe out all remaining populations of the butterflies.
protected habitat is in three areas:
- Lopez Canyon, which includes acreage within Los Penasquitos Canyon聽Preserve;
- Miramar/Santee; and
- Southern San Diego.
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