Checkerspot-E. San Diego Co.

[Doug Yanega]

Mark Walker wrote:

>        While I was in Vermont, not only did this butterfly get put on the
>endangered list, but they also built a marvelous new toll road that cuts
>right across this once virgin landscape.  Well, marvelous for the commuters
>from Riverside, but not so marvelous for the wildlife.  Just curious - was
>the _Quino Checkerspot_ part of the debate over this toll road?

There's more than one road that you might be referring to. If it was
planned and built up within the last two years, then almost certainly the
Quino figured into the planning.

>        Neil mentions on his website that the butterfly has been isolated to
>a few colonies in San Diego (I assume these are the locations near Vista and
>Fallbrook, where the butterfly used to be more common, but are now also
>covered with new homes).  Aren't there still a few other colonies in Orange
>and Riverside counties?

I've been told that it's extinct in Orange County, but that the Riverside
populations, especially to the south, are thriving.

>So what's the deal on this
>butterfly - what is being done?

A lot of paperwork is getting filed, mostly people asking for permits to
allow them to go ahead and develop even though the Quino may be on the
land. That's how the law evidently works - the government can always choose
to let you go ahead.

Peace,


Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology           Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82