Post by LadyWinterWolf on Sept 21, 2004 23:56:58 GMT -5
Agency to Designate Habitat for Dragonfly
Tues, Sept 21, 2002, Yahoo Science Page
By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Prodded by a lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to designate critical habitat for an endangered dragonfly found in only a few Midwestern wetland areas.
AP Photo
The agency reached a settlement with five environmental groups that accused the government of shirking its responsibility to protect the Hine's emerald dragonfly.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., signed an order last week to implement the agreement, said Brent Plater, an attorney for one of the groups, the Center for Biological Diversity.
The settlement "will force the Bush administration to put the developers' interests aside and rely on science, protecting our region's precious natural heritage," Plater said Tuesday.
Fish and Wildlife will begin developing a regulation next year to identify and protect the habitat, spokeswoman Gloria Parham said. The agency expects to issue a final rule by May 2007.
Once an area is designated critical habitat, federal agencies must consult with Fish and Wildlife scientists before taking or authorizing actions that might threaten the species, such as issuing permits to drain wetlands. The designation affects only projects that require federal approval.
The Hine's emerald dragonfly has disappeared from Indiana and Ohio, and is known to exist only in small pockets of Michigan's northeastern Lower Peninsula and in Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin. The 2 1/2-inch-long insect has bright emerald-green eyes and a metallic green thorax, with yellow stripes on its sides.
Habitat loss is the biggest reason for its decline. Wetlands in the Upper Midwest have been drained for farming and urban development.
