Environment

No Fed Protection For Rare Butterfly

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published April 13, 2011 at 11:32 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

Hermes Copper Butterfly Exists Only In San Diego

An effort to get federal protection for a rare butterfly that only exists in San Diego County has been rejected.

A petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to have the Hermes copper butterfly listed as an endangered species was denied by the Obama administration.

Ilene Anderson with the Center for Biological Diversity said without Endangered Species Act protection, one of Southern California's rarest butterflies could disappear forever.

"It's a great disappointment because this is a species that is very threatened by its extinction because of some of the big wildfires that we've had in San Diego as well as development pressures," said Anderson.

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Anderson said the butterfly was instead placed on the growing list of "candidate" species despite threats to the yellow-orange, spotted butterfly.

She said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the butterfly warrants federal protection but won't get it because protection is "precluded" by actions to list other species.

Anderson said the "warranted by precluded" designation doesn't provide protections for species and many have gone extinct while waiting.

She said the Hermes copper butterfly only exists in San Diego County.

Conservation groups have sought protection for the threatened butterfly for almost 20 years. Petitions were first filed with the federal government in 1991 and again in 2004.

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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.

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