development and butterflies

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

interesting thread that 'developed' (pun intended) out of the quino
checkerspot discussion. here is my lunch hour take on the matter. we should
not deliberately drive butterflies to extinction. development will continue
and extinction as a natural process will continue and there will continue to
be times when decisions are made that will extirpate populations or even
whole species. there are those who argue that conservation decisions must be
based on science, my view is that data and information are indeed useful to
aid decision making but science will not help us with the reality that the
tough decisions will be based on values, politics and social choice. how
many species we can 'protect' and where we will protect them will ultimately
be a social choice issue by the decision makers and will be limited by what
a particular society can afford to protect. affordability is normally
increased in a healthy economy with 'development' - kinda interesting
scenario.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca