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By BURKE WASSON
LVN Staff Writer
When people think of Sand Mountain, dirt-bike riders and the giant sand dune itself often come to mind.
But when the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance envisions the natural attraction, its members see a great location with a potentially fatal problem - the possible extinction of the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly.
The Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly is a small butterfly with a wingspan of less than one inch. Males are pale blue, and females are a grayish brown color.
Some people are concerned that the use of Sand Mountain as a weekend getaway for off-highway vehicle riders will deplete the amount of Kearney Buckwheat, which is found at Sand Mountain and is also the habitat of the Blue Butterfly.
But while the concern for the butterfly's survival is a priority, so is the desire to continue to have Sand Mountain be a viable spot for OHV enthusiasts.
In order to bridge the gap and keep all sides happy, the LVEA coordinated the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Working Group last year.
"It's a group that was formed to develop a conservation plan that would conserve the Kearney Buckwheat and the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly and at the same time let multiple use continue on Sand Mountain," said LVEA executive director Jeannette Dahl.
Representatives from groups including the Bureau of Land Management, Churchill County government, the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe and the California Off Road Vehicle Association have all taken part in the effort to preserve the butterflies' habitat while also letting OHV use to continue at Sand Mountain.
Dahl said the BLM accepted the group's designated route map at its last meeting.
"The purpose of those designated routes is to provide sand trails for the public to ride on and at the same time preserve the Kearney Buckwheat area," Dahl said. "So a map was developed through the working group, and BLM has said that map looks like it'll be an acceptable starting point."
According to Dahl, the working group has completed five strategies in the development of its conservation plan. These include: the designated routes, educating the public, developing a maintenance program for signage and the proposed trails, increasing law enforcement of the proposed trails and closing Sand Mountain's shrub habitat to livestock.
"We work on those five strategies and flesh them out," Dahl said. "Now we're getting the narrative put together that describes what we're doing with these strategies."
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently considering a petition to list the butterfly as a endangered species.
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe members have also said that because Sand Mountain is a sacred area with great cultural significance to the tribe, the area should be closed for two months during the spring each year. One month would be designated for spiritual practices, and one month for habitat regeneration.
The BLM estimates that more than 40,000 people visit Sand Mountain each year, with as many as 5,000 to 7,000 people on Memorial Day weekend.
Anyone wanting more information on the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Working Group can call (775) 423-0525 or send an e-mail to lvea@sci-nevada.com.
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
LVN Staff Writer
When people think of Sand Mountain, dirt-bike riders and the giant sand dune itself often come to mind.
But when the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance envisions the natural attraction, its members see a great location with a potentially fatal problem - the possible extinction of the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly.
The Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly is a small butterfly with a wingspan of less than one inch. Males are pale blue, and females are a grayish brown color.
Some people are concerned that the use of Sand Mountain as a weekend getaway for off-highway vehicle riders will deplete the amount of Kearney Buckwheat, which is found at Sand Mountain and is also the habitat of the Blue Butterfly.
But while the concern for the butterfly's survival is a priority, so is the desire to continue to have Sand Mountain be a viable spot for OHV enthusiasts.
In order to bridge the gap and keep all sides happy, the LVEA coordinated the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Working Group last year.
"It's a group that was formed to develop a conservation plan that would conserve the Kearney Buckwheat and the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly and at the same time let multiple use continue on Sand Mountain," said LVEA executive director Jeannette Dahl.
Representatives from groups including the Bureau of Land Management, Churchill County government, the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe and the California Off Road Vehicle Association have all taken part in the effort to preserve the butterflies' habitat while also letting OHV use to continue at Sand Mountain.
Dahl said the BLM accepted the group's designated route map at its last meeting.
"The purpose of those designated routes is to provide sand trails for the public to ride on and at the same time preserve the Kearney Buckwheat area," Dahl said. "So a map was developed through the working group, and BLM has said that map looks like it'll be an acceptable starting point."
According to Dahl, the working group has completed five strategies in the development of its conservation plan. These include: the designated routes, educating the public, developing a maintenance program for signage and the proposed trails, increasing law enforcement of the proposed trails and closing Sand Mountain's shrub habitat to livestock.
"We work on those five strategies and flesh them out," Dahl said. "Now we're getting the narrative put together that describes what we're doing with these strategies."
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently considering a petition to list the butterfly as a endangered species.
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe members have also said that because Sand Mountain is a sacred area with great cultural significance to the tribe, the area should be closed for two months during the spring each year. One month would be designated for spiritual practices, and one month for habitat regeneration.
The BLM estimates that more than 40,000 people visit Sand Mountain each year, with as many as 5,000 to 7,000 people on Memorial Day weekend.
Anyone wanting more information on the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly Working Group can call (775) 423-0525 or send an e-mail to lvea@sci-nevada.com.
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
