InsectNet forum

A real slap down exposing shoddy work petitioning for ESA protection of Leps. Really worth the read- first the petition, then especially the response by real researchers and SMEs.


https://xerces.org/publications/petitio ... sonides-as

Slap down response

https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FWS ... -0097-0004

I read it speed read style, my usual when it comes to some of these articles.
I don't think I've ever seen one of the mentioned butterflies, but from the map,
it looks like they're found in the eastern part of Oregon, where virtually all the land
is cattle country, having been through the areas in the past, there's nothing there, it's all
federal land that I think is leased by ranchers. They claim it's public land, except it's barbwire
and loose cows.
The rebuttal did a much better job of making their case.

I am impressed by the level of details these scientific board went through for that petition... it would never happen in my country. I hope the authorities will follow the scientific board instead of this association.

I fully agree that protecting common species is a nonsense and counter-productive as it splits efforts and fundings to non-endangered species... instead of focusing on endangered ones.