Use Restrictions Imposed on Nevada’s Sand Mountain

The BLM decided to restrict travel on Sand Mountain Recreation Area to designated routes in an effort to protect dwindling habitat of the Sand Mountain blue butterfly. The Sand Mountain Recreation Area consists of a series of wind blown sand dunes that are the remnants of an ancient lake. The butterfly, found only at this over-run Nevada off-road vehicle recreation site, makes its home in the shrubs growing in the dunes.

Conservation groups, including Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Coalition, petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004 to declare the butterfly an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. Successful listing as endangered would likely have resulted in the closure of the entire area to ORV use.

However, after the agency determination to restrict cross country travel to protect the butterfly’s habitat, agency officials said federal listing under the Endangered Species Act is unwarranted. Unfortunately, federal land managers have already allowed off-roaders to destroy more than half of the butterfly’s habitat, and conservationists are concerned that lack of enforcement of the new restrictions will allow the destruction to continue.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is installing fences and signs to confine off-roaders to designated routes in the 4,795-acre recreation area. The restrictions apply to about 60 percent of the area, but the vast majority of off-road use takes place in areas that will remain open to travel. It remains to be seen whether these measures will be sufficient to protect the butterfly and its habitat from off-road vehicle damage.