projectpowerplant.com

solonavi 21 March 2008 Campaign, Endangered & Extinction 154 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Center of Biological Diversity

Conservation groups challenged the federal government’s decision to exclude all national forest land from a recent endangered species ruling in federal court today. The suit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Biological Diversity, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, Michigan Nature Association, Door County Environmental Council, and the Habitat Education Center, charges that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s designation of critical habitat for the Hine’s emerald dragonfly violates the federal Endangered Species Act by excluding all 13,000 acres in Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest and the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.

While much of the dragonfly’s most important habitat lies on these national forest lands, the Fish & Wildlife Service chose not to extend them full legal protections, arguing that the Forest Service would be more cooperative if the land were excluded.

:

“The recovery plan says the dragonfly is endangered due to fragmentation and destruction of its habitat. But excluding the Forest Service from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service oversight diminishes protection for the unique wetlands needed to keep the Hine’s emerald dragonfly from going extinct,” said Doug Cornett, executive director of Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. “We want to see them in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for generations to come.”

The suit argues that the Endangered Species Act compels the federal government to extend the full legal protections in the excluded areas.

“This species used to be referred to as the Ohio emerald. Now they do not exist anywhere in that state,” noted Jeremy Emmi, executive director of the Michigan Nature Association. “If the feds do not step up like they should, we might not see them in Michigan or Missouri anymore.”

The Hine’s emerald dragonfly is the only dragonfly species on the federal endangered species list. It is also recognized as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and a number of states in the Midwest. The species can only be found in small areas of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Missouri.

:

Hines Emerald Dragonfly Information

Size: The dragonfly is approximately 2.5 inches long with a 3.5-inch wingspan.

Appearance: The dragonfly has a dazzling metallic green body with shocking emerald-green eyes. It has yellow stripes on the sides of its body and a creamy-color to its wings. Males have a unique “clasper” at the end of their tails used to grab potential mates.

Flight: Dragonflies can fly at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. They can hover, fly backward, change directions in mid-air, and are some of the most acrobatic fliers in the animal kingdom.

Habitat: These dragonflies rely on spring-fed marshes and meadows with high calcium carbonate levels in the water. Most of these wetland habitats have been drained for urban and industrial development.

Interesting facts:

• Most of these dragonflies’ life cycle is spent as a nymph: a dark, one-inch larva that has big teeth to capture prey, can move around using water jets, and lives in crawfish burrows. Nymphs are often described as looking like “hairballs with legs.”
• They live as nymphs for two to four years until they are ready to become adults. This process is much like a butterfly’s metamorphosis from a caterpillar. The nymphs shed their skin and an adult dragonfly emerges. Adults live for only two to six weeks.
• This species used to be far more widespread than it is today; it can no longer be found in Ohio, Alabama, or Indiana.
• Males and females have differently shaped sexual organs at the ends of their tails that allow copulation in flight.

Additional information on the Hine’s emerald dragonfly can be found at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Web site:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/Hines_emerald_dragonfly/index.html

The designation of critical habitat document can be read at:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/insects/hed/hedfchFR.html

HINE’S EMERALD DRAGONFLY } Somatochlora hineana
FAMILY: Corduliidae