The Carson wandering skipper has triangular wings and is the fastest of the butterfly families, clocking in at speeds of 20 mph.
Goats used to improve rare butterfly’s habitat
By Nathan Hurner U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife
A weathered corral appears in the middle of sagebrush. Inside the corral is a herd of goats. They spring up from their rest as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Lara Enders, enters the corral with Dennie Cook, owner of High Desert Graziers and owner of the goats.
“These goats are going to help the Carson wandering skipper (butterfly),” says Enders. “We are using them for targeted grazing to restore the butterfly’s habitat.” The targeted grazing project is part of a collaborative effort be- tween the Service’s Reno, Nev., field office and the Bureau of Land Management’s Sierra Front Field Office. This is an experimental ef- fort to improve habitat for an endangered butterfly, the Carson wan- dering skipper, and to Enders’ knowledge this is the first project that used targeted grazing to benefit an endangered species in Nevada. Carson wandering skipper is an orange butterfly that calls north- ern Nevada and a portion of eastern California home. The goal is to reduce overgrown vegetation on a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
Daniella Dekelaita, a wildlife biologist for the BLM, notes that, “The biomass build up (on this site) may be a factor working against Carson wandering skipper.”
Biomass refers to the total quantity of organic material that comes from plants or animals in a given area. “The overgrowth in vegetation appears to be crowding out nectar plants, which could make it difficult for Carson wandering skippers to find food,” Deke- laita said.
But why use targeted grazing instead of other management tools?
“Prescribed fire is a tool that would certainly remove biomass, but we had concerns that fire could kill overwintering pupae that are found at the base of saltgrass and may also remove too much of the plant resources that we want to keep,” said Enders. “Mowing is another tool, but it would leave a lot of cut biomass that we would still need to remove from the site. These factors natu- (Continued on Page 27)
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