Conservationists File Suit for Dragonfly Protection
Hiawatha National Forest Near St. Ignace
By Paul Gingras

The endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly is the subject of a lawsuit over habitat designated for the insect's survival. Its range has diminished to small areas in four states. It is found two miles north of St. Ignace in the Hiawatha National Forest, where it relies on wetlands high in calcium carbonate. The dragonfly's name is derived from its bright green eyes and metallic green body. It is about 2.5 inches long, with a wingspan of about 3.3 inches. (Photograph by Carol Freeman)

Conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, seeking continued protection of the endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly on the Hiawatha National Forest near St. Ignace. The groups contend that, for the first time, national forest lands have been excluded from areas considered critical to the survival of an endangered species, and they are concerned that this may set a precedent allowing reduced protections on public land for species facing extinction throughout the country, said Andrew Wetzler, director of the endangered species program for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The groups involved in the suit include the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, the Michigan Nature Association, Door County Environmental Council, and the Habitat Education Center.

Owing largely to habitat loss, the Hine's emerald dragonfly is found only in small areas of Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It has disappeared from its ranges in Alabama, Indiana, and Ohio.

The dragonfly was listed as endangered in January 1995 and is recognized as a species facing extinction, and this status makes it illegal to do anything on federal land that could jeopardize the insect's continued existence, Mr. Wetzler said.

Part of listing an endangered species is establishing land where it is to be protected, called "critical habitat." It is illegal to destroy or alter such habitat because doing so could hurt an endangered species' ability to regenerate a healthy population, Mr. Wetzler said.

After more than 10 years of deliberation, the two largest critical habitat areas proposed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife were left out of the agency's final list of areas to receive the strongest form of federal protection.

Both are on national forest lands.

By eliminating national forests, the dragonfly's protected habitat has been cut in half, Mr. Wetzler said.

The decision was made in federal court September 5, 2007. In response, conservation groups filed the March 10 lawsuit, demanding that 10,000 acres of national forest in Mackinac County and 3,000 acres of national forest land in Missouri be designated critical habitat for the dragonfly's survival.

Designating land "critical habitat" allows for the strongest protection an endangered species can receive from the United States government, Mr. Wetzler said. In 2006, U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposed 27,000 acres of critical habitat for the dragonfly. In September, all of the national forest land in the proposal was excluded.

When critical habitat lies in a national forest, the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are required to work together to protect the endangered species. Before Forest Service personnel can obtain permits to build roads or conduct logging operations in such an area, they have to consult with U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Both agencies have to find a way to ensure that proposed actions will not impede the recovery of the protected species.

The federal government can exclude areas from proposed protected zones if doing so is ultimately more beneficial for the cause than including them, Mr. Wetzler said. In this case, the federal government ruled that national forest land should be excluded because the Forest Service division overseeing the Hiawatha National Forest, and its counterpart in Missouri, have forest plans promising to protect the Hine's emerald dragonfly. The ruling states that requiring Fish and Wildlife oversight over these forests could damage the relationship between the two agencies, Mr. Wetzler said.

This particular rationale has never been applied before, he noted.

"This a bad and illogical precedent," he said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has more than a month and a half to file a response to the lawsuit. After that, the agency has several months to compile documents to defend its decision to exclude the Hiawatha. A final decision is expected in six months to a year, Mr. Wetzler said.

The first of the two local areas excluded from the habitat list is west of I-75, east of Brevort Lake, and north of Castle Rock Road. The second is west of Lake Huron and east of I-75.

The St. Ignace Ranger District of the Hiawatha did not return calls from The St. Ignace News seeking its assessment of the dragonfly.