RENO, Nevada – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it is opening a 60-day public comment period on a proposed rule to list the bleached sandhill skipper, a small butterfly native to Nevada, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Using the Service’s Species Status Assessment framework, we determined that bleached sandhill skipper, a subspecies of the sandhill skipper, warrants the protections of the ESA due to ongoing threats from climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change and groundwater pumping which cause the skippers’ habitat to warm and dry. Increasing temperatures also cause direct impacts to the health of individual butterflies, putting them at risk of extinction.
The bleached sandhill skipper is a small golden-orange butterfly that appears lighter in color than other sandhill skippers, hence the name “bleached.” They are known to exist only in three populations within a 14-mile area in northern Humboldt County, Nevada. Eighty eight percent of the skipper’s populations occur on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“It is a beautiful little butterfly, found in just a few quiet places in Nevada,” said Lara Enders, a fish and wildlife biologist with the Service in Reno, Nevada. "In reviewing the information available, we found that at least one population has declined substantially in the last 10 years." Enders added that the major threats affecting the bleach sandhill skipper are regional in nature and thus are also likely negatively affecting the other populations.
According to Enders, research is finding that other butterfly species around the southwestern U.S are also experiencing population declines which are attributed to climate change as conditions get hotter and drier.
Bleached sandhill skippers depend on saltgrass found in their alkali meadow habitat as a host plant and use nearby rabbitbrushes as their nectar source. They also require suitable temperatures and moisture levels to maintain appropriate conditions.
“The data indicate warming temperatures in this part of Nevada directly affects this species survival and ability to reproduce,” said Enders. “We also found that the changes in climate patterns, coupled with groundwater pumping, are contributing to the drying out of the alkali meadow communities that the bleached sandhill skipper calls home.”
As we move through the listing process, the Service will continue to work with our public and private partners to conserve these rare butterflies that are unique to Nevada.
A 60-day comment period on the proposed rule opens January 8, 2024 and closes March 10, 2024. Information on how to submit comments can be found at www.federalregister.gov by searching under docket number FWS-R8-ES-2024-0041.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information about our work and the people who make it happen, visit https://www.fws.gov/office/reno-fish-and-wildlife or connect with us via Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
