Earth Day Victory for Endangered Dragonfly

by Annie Hartnett · 2010-04-23 15:00:00 UTC
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Yesterday, the federal government designated 26,000 acres of protected habitat for the endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly. The Hine's emerald dragonfly is the only dragonfly on the federal list of endangered species. This ruling doubles the amount of dragonfly habitat that had previously been protected.

This is an important victory, not only for the dragonfly, but for other endangered species as well.

In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave protections to 13,000 acres of dragonfly habitat under the Endangered Species Act. But the habitat proposal excluded all National Forests where the dragonfly could be found, even though some of the dragonfly's most important habitat is in Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest and the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. As the dragonfly is now found only in small areas in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin, this presented an obvious problem for the endangered insect.

The ruling also set a dangerous precedent, as other endangered species could be denied full legal protections in National Forest lands as well.

The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), along with five other environmental groups, sued the Fish and Wildlife Service for violating the federal Endangered Species Act by excluding the National Forests. The case was settled in 2009 when the federal government chose to reconsider the ruling.

On April 22, 2010, the U.S. government granted the dragonfly protections in both National Forests, which doubles their protected habitat. The government also added 147 acres of habit in Door County, Wisconsin, where the largest population of dragonflies can be found. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service will also now monitor ground water changes in wetlands vital to the dragonfly's survival.

Dragonflies are living fossils, having remained unchanged for 300 million years. As the main threat to their survival is habitat loss, hopefully these added protections will save the Hine's emerald dragonfly from extinction.

Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.
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