Nev. Dunes Restricted to Help Butterfly

This undated file image provided by the Bureau of land Management, shows the Sand Mountain blue butterfly at the Sand Mountain Recreation Area, east of Fallon, Nev. Federal land managers working to keep a rare Nevada butterfly off the list of endangered species have closed scores of off-road vehicle trails at one of the biggest, most popular sand dunes in the West, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday, March 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management) (AP)

RENO, Nev. -- Federal land managers trying to keep a rare butterfly off the list of endangered species have closed dozens of off-road vehicle trails at one of the largest sand dunes in the West.

The closure affects about six square miles at Sand Mountain Recreation Area in western Nevada. The dunes' shrubs are the Sand Mountain blue butterfly's only known home.

The Bureau of Land Management controls activities at the dunes, which are 600 feet tall and stretch for two miles. Their 200 miles of trails attract an estimated 50,000 off-roaders annually on motorcycles, dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles.

Bureau officials said they could not say how many miles of trails were closed but noted that the main dune at Sand Mountain where most motorized use occurs will remain open.

The BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service have been seeking a compromise with off-road groups to restrict vehicles since conservationists started petitioning for federal protection of the butterfly in 2004.

The BLM published the emergency closure order in the Federal Register last week, two years after imposing a voluntary measure. It will post signs where travel is prohibited, spokesman Mark Struble said.

"It's called an emergency restriction so when everybody hears the 'E' word they think we are shutting the whole mountain down. That is not the case," Struble said.

"We're going from a wide-open, cross-country, go-over-any-of-the-bushes-if-they-get-in-your-way kind of situation, to trying to conserve as much of the vegetative resources that is out there as possible," he said.

"If the old way continues, habitat will continue to degrade and the species will be closer and closer to getting listed."

Conservationists filed a lawsuit in federal court in Sacramento, Calif., in January 2006 to try to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to declare the butterfly an endangered species.

Agency officials are reviewing the butterfly's habitat and could rule as soon as next month on the proposed listing.

"The closure is a good first step toward protecting the Sand Mountain blue butterfly, which exists nowhere else in the world," said Lisa Belenky, staff attorney for Arizona's Center for Biological Diversity, which sued along with the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.