Group Wants Rare Butterflies Protected

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 27, 2009 at 12:05 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The Center for Biological Diversity says a federal agency is not protecting two rare butterflies that live in the coastal and mountain areas of San Diego County. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce say

The Center for Biological Diversity says a federal agency is not protecting two rare butterflies that live in the coastal and mountain areas of San Diego County. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce says the group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the butterflies included on the Endangered Species List.

The environmental group is challenging a 2007 decision that denied protection for the butterflies.

Become a KPBS sponsor

The Hermes copper is a bright, yellow-orange spotted butterfly.

The Thorne's hairstreak has wings that range from reddish brown to mahogany with touches of lavender.

Jonathan Evans with the Center for Biological Diversity says suburban sprawl, climate change and wildfires could drive the butterflies to extinction.

"We've had wildfires in 2003 and 2007 in San Diego County that literally threaten the existence of these butterflies in San Diego County and globally," he says. "If we would have had one of those events decimate their entire habitat then we would have lost them completely for future generations."

He says the Bush administration reversed the course of its own biologists who recommended further research into protection of the butterflies under the Endangered Species Act.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

twitter

Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

See stories by Ed Joyce