AP picked up the story. This ran in the
Reno Gazette-Journal: http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html...sp3=Local+News
Las Vegas Sun: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st...050610011.html
KRNV TV: http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp...4&nav=8faOFf6p

Environmentalists want to bar vehicles from part of Sand Mountain

Associated Press

5/6/2003 11:20 am


Environmentalists want to draw a line on Sand Mountain by closing 1,000 acres to vehicles to protect a blue butterfly.

That would eliminate 25 percent the area east of here enjoyed by off-road vehicle enthusiasts, who question just how rare the butterfly is.

Immediate closure of the tract to off-highway vehicles was recommended by an ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management, the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe and the Nature Conservancy during an April 30 meeting of the BLM's Resource Advisory Council in Fallon.

According to Nature Conservancy representatives, vehicles pose a"critical threat to the viability of Sand Mountain and its unique suite of plants and invertebrates,"the Nevada Appeal reported.

The problem, they say, is loss of vegetative cover because vehicles harm Kearney buckwheat, a food source for the Sand Mountain blue butterfly.

Its status is listed as"sensitive"by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard reported.

BLM plant ecologist Dean Kinerson told the Appeal that as far as is known, the butterfly lives nowhere else and depends on the buckwheat.

Off-highway vehicle enthusiasts like Jon Crowley, president of the nonprofit group Friends of Sand Mountain, acknowledge the species is sensitive, but are not ready to close the dunes.

"As far as we know, it doesn't live anywhere else, but we'd like to see them verify that,"he said.

He said there are about 30 sand dune areas in Nevada, and claimed Kearney buckwheat lives in other areas. He would like to see those areas checked for the butterfly before parts of Sand Mountain are closed.

The Resource Advisory Council created a subgroup to advise the bureau. It will include off-road vehicle users, environmentalists, biologists and representatives from the tribe. Crowley has applied to be a part of the group.

During the meeting in Fallon, the Friends of Sand Mountain urged the BLM to exhaust other means of stopping vegetation loss before limiting the use of off-highway vehicles at Sand Mountain.

Crowley's group regularly cleans up Sand Mountain. They also distribute fliers and organize programs teaching off-roaders how to tread lightly.

"We'd like to see the BLM be a partner in that as well,"Crowley said.
----------------------------------------------------

Friends of Sand Mountain -> www.SandMountain-NV.org

 

Letters to the Editor can be sent to newspapers that printed these articles:

Reno Gazette-Journal -
http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter_to_editor.php or fax: 775-788-6458

Tahoe Tribune, Nevada Appeal & Record Courier -
editor@nevadaappeal.com or fax: 775-887-2420

Lahontan Valley News -
fax: 775-423-0474

The subject has also been on the Rusty Humpries show on AM Radio (KOH 780) in Reno
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The study for the bees that were recently discovered are still in draft form and the bees haven't even been named yet.

Also, Kearney Buckwheat (blue butterfly host plant) is known to exist at over 60 locations across Nevada, Utah, California & Arizona. And Kearney Buckwheat has not yet systematically surveyed, so there could be more locations that have yet to be found.

More detail:
http://www.sandmountain-nv.org/kearn..._locations.htm