Postcard from Cloudcroft

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On a wing and a prayer at 9,000 feet

Mert Kerim

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The Sacramento mountains checkerspot butterfly is unique, found in all the world only on 2,000 acres of high meadow in the village of Cloudcroft, N.M. (pop. 768, altitude 8,640 ft.), and the adjoining Lincoln National Forest. The 2-in. checkerspot colorfully floods Burro Street, Cloudcroft's main drag, every summer, and it takes its scientific name--Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti--from the town that shares its habitat.

But when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in December that it would begin an investigation into whether the butterfly, with an estimated population of 5,000, deserves protection under the Endangered Species Act, Cloudcroft residents did anything but rejoice. In fact, they rebelled against the idea that the Federal Government, egged on by "bug huggers," was telling them how to manage their neighborhood. "I like butterflies, especially when you catch them while they are still caterpillars. Deep fried and dipped in a little honey mustard sauce, they are delicious," quipped a columnist for the Daily News in nearby Alamogordo, admitting a particular fondness for those from Cloudcroft, which are "sort of spicy." Long-term negotiations to annex national-forest acreage for municipal use would be complicated by Endangered Species Act protection. "People are not happy," says former village trustee Gary Wood. (See the top 10 green ideas of 2008.)

And as they see it, for good reason. The village has been through this ordeal before--twice. In 1993 the Mexican spotted owl, which nests in the Lincoln forest, was declared threatened--a ruling that, combined with a slumping timber market, "killed the logging industry," according to Wood. And in 1999 an environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, began petitioning on behalf of the checkerspot, pointing out that it was at risk from development, off-road vehicles and livestock-grazing--or as Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife-program director of WildEarth Guardians, which joined the cause in 2007, puts it, "smelly cows, noisy ATVs and the din of chain saws."

In 2005, Cloudcroft, Otero County, the U.S. Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service came up with a broad local conservation plan--one of the first in the nation--designed to safeguard the butterfly on both public and private land. But with logging virtually gone, Cloudcroft relies on tourism, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to hike, camp, fish and hunt. Restrictions on human activity in the checkerspot's habitat would bode ill for a local economy already suffering in the recession. "Anybody who is young and trying to make a living in Cloudcroft works in the tourist industry," says Wood. "This is very bad for business."

The latest skirmish in the checkerspot conflict began in October 2007, when an attempt to fight an infestation of tree-destroying looper caterpillars aroused the ire of environmentalists, who argued the insecticide also threatened checkerspot larvae. The government denied demands for an emergency protected-species listing but agreed to reopen debate on permanently adding the checkerspot.

The deadline for public comments on a listing is Feb. 3, but the battle is far from over. By August, the Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether it agrees that the butterfly needs protection. If it does, public hearings will follow. The Interior Department could take up to a year to reach a decision, which is likely to be appealed in federal court by whichever side loses.

Meanwhile, the checkerspot slumbers beneath the snowy alpine meadows of Otero County. Cloudcroft cautiously prepares for what it hopes will be the usual summer tourist invasion. And environmentalists intensify their campaign to add what would be the 21st butterfly to the list of protected species in the U.S. "Diverse native insects should be cause for celebration," says Rosmarino. "I would like to see Cloudcroft honor and promote its endemic checkerspot, perhaps with a butterfly festival." Cloudcroft is less enthusiastic. "Their agenda," warns Michael Nivison, the village administrator, "is to get everybody out of the forest."

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