The Oregon silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta) was listed as a federally threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1980. Restricted to indigenous grasslands along the coast from southwestern Washington to northwestern California, its habitat has almost entirely disappeared in recent years due to human development, ecological succession, and collection pressures. The same year the species was listed, Forest Service personnel found a population of silverspots on the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon. This population, at Rock Creek, was the only known population in the national forest at this time.
Beginning immediately, the biologists on the Siuslaw National Forest quietly took the initiative and began research and recovery efforts for the silverspot. They collaborated with Oregon State University (OSU) entomologist Paul Hammond and began the "pioneering research" on the butterfly, cataloging and observing it in an effort to better understand its needs and habits. At the same time, the Forest Service began carefully experimenting with on-the-ground management practices, such as mowing and burning, to control succession and protect butterfly habitat in an approximately 1,000-acre "Silverspot Management Area."
In addition to the official recovery team required by the Endangered Species Act, and headed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there is an informal "working group" made up of over 20 governmental agencies and other local and national interested parties (environmental organizations, lepidopterists, private land owners) who are committed to promotion and protection of the species and its habitat. The first and most active of these groups was The Nature Conservancy, which approached the Forest Service in 1983 when they found a population of silverspots on their preserve adjacent to the Siuslaw National Forest. The Siuslaw National Forest shared the research and management information it had accumulated over the previous two years, and Forest Service staff helped the Conservancy carry out a prescribed burn to hold succession at bay. From that point on, the two organizations decided to collaborate and, through a Challenge Cost Share grant in 1986, began to combine research efforts and expertise.
The relationship has been fruitful for the butterfly as well as for the two organizations. Several distinct populations of silverspots are now being managed on both Forest Service and Nature Conservancy lands. According to Cathy Macdonald from The Nature Conservancy, "Working together has allowed us to compare populations and habitat conditions across sites. These comparisons have improved our understanding of the factors that affect the population dynamics of the Oregon silverspot butterfly and ultimately improves our management of the species. We've learned much more by cooperating than we could have on our own."
The Nature Conservancy and the Forest Service have also learned a lot about each other. Macdonald refers to it as "a bringing together of organizational mindsets," in that the groups have not always agreed about management decisions, but they have learned to work out their differences. For example, over the years, disagreements have occurred over the extent to which some areas should be burned and mowed. Both organizations have moved forward with different management approaches, sharing the results of their efforts with one another and clearing all actions with USFWS biologists.
According to the Forest Service's Michael Clady, there has been a "real broad-based coalition committed to the recovery of this critter." The accumulated knowledge is now shared with many other parties that have found populations of silverspots on their land and wish to manage to promote recovery. In addition to the Forest Service management areas, other groups are managing their land to promote silverspot habitat. For example, management plans have been developed for a local National Guard unit, the Oregon Department of Transportation, which has a road that traverses silverspot habitat; and several private landowners.
The silverspot recovery project has been a double victory for the Forest Service. While leading the way in research, management and recovery of an endangered species, agency staff have simultaneously increased their understanding of how to work cooperatively with both governmental and non-governmental groups towards a common goal. By quietly filling a gap that existed in endangered species management in the 1980s and 1990s and "leading by example," the Forest Service has provided ecosystem management for this threatened species.
The program also provides good publicity for the Forest Service, a change in image that is particularly important in the Pacific Northwest, where the spotted owl controversy dominated the agency's image in management of endangered species in past years. Paul Hammond explained that with very little money the silverspot management effort is "cheap publicity," as it makes the Forest Service look good in that they are doing something for endangered species in the middle of all the controversy."
A real success of this research and management effort is the development of a broad-based group of people and organizations who feel committed and responsible for the recovery of the silverspot. In the early 1980s, the fate of the silverspot was primarily in the hands of a few Forest Service biologists. Now, however, the group of people that care about the future of the silverspot has grown geometrically, and consequently, its future is not so dependent on whims of funding and time constraints from a single organization. "At this point we are stimulating each other, not the Forest Service pulling everyone along," says Michael Clady.
In 2001, the USFWS created a revised recovery plan for the silverspot butterfly. The Forest Service is currently consulting with the USFWS in order to try recovery approaches deemed as too risky in the past. Says Michael Clady, "We are going to now try grazing and even herbicide and other things that were probably unthinkable five years ago." In addition, the USFWS has teamed up with The Nature Conservancy, Lewis and Clark College, and the Oregon Zoo to begin a fairly large silverspot butterfly captive breeding program.
This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.
