Salt Creek Tiger Beetle --

Salt Creek Tiger Beetle -- Endangered Species Act

The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) is a half-inch long, dark brown / dark olive insect that is struggling for its survival in areas of Saunders County and Lancaster County, Nebraska. The Nebraska Ecological Services Field Office (NESFO) in February, 2009, outlined a potential recovery plan for this endangered subspecies, which is found to have "one of the most restricted ranges of any insect in the United States" (NESFO). Indeed, the report asserts that the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle -- which requires saline wetlands on exposed saline mud flats or along the muddy banks of streams that contain salt deposits -- is found in only 13 sites in those Nebraska counties. The NESFO report claims that since the late 1800s more than 90% of the saline wetlands (required by the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle for survival) have been "destroyed or severely degraded."

Issues Pertaining to Endangered Status: Pros & Cons: Should the federal government be involved in an expensive program that sets aside "critical habitat" for a subspecies that numbers only three or four hundred beetles? This question can best be answered by referring to the statute, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (amended in 1978). According to the Department of the Interior, the law states that "…any subspecies of fish or wildlife or plants and any other group of fish or wildlife of the same species or smaller taxa in common spatial arrangement that interbreed when mature" may be designated as endangered (www.fws.gov). Nothing in the law restricts the possibility of a subspecies becoming an endangered species due to limited population or reduced habitat, hence, the beetle is eligible.

Moreover, when the Secretary of the Interior is giving consideration to a species or subspecies being placed on the Endangered Species List (ESL), the secretary must take into account the "distinct population segment" -- section 4(a)(1) -- which in the case of the beetle was justified. Indeed, the beetle was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as an endangered species in 2005, and was listed as endangered under Nebraska's endangered species act in 2000. Further, the law passed by Congress implores the Interior Secretary to designate species as endangered only "…sparingly and only when the biological evidence indicates that such action is warranted" (www.fws.gov).

When considering the pros and cons of placing a species (or subspecies) on the endangered list, the economic ramifications of such a move must be taken into account. In July 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contracted with Northwest Economic Associates to determine what the cost would be to the Nebraska community if the government indeed declares certain areas in Nebraska as "critical habitat." Should the economic impact report indicate that the designation of certain habitat off-limits to development (to protect the beetle) "might unduly burden a particular group or economic sector," then a legitimate rebuttal to the proposed designation can be made (through litigation or legislative mitigation).

That report takes into account "likely decreases of land value" when development is restricted, "especially in the vicinity of the City of Lincoln"; the dollar amount (accounting for 58% of the economic impact) is estimated at $13.3 million. Certainly when a federal decision to protect a beetle (whose population has dwindled down to a scant few hundred insects) costs land developers millions of dollars in reduced land value (land they can no longer develop) there will be loud and justified protests from the business community. This is certainly one of the main points of contention, not just with this project, but with all endangered species decisions in which property rights are diminished.

Meantime, Twenty-nine percent of the potential impact of designating "critical habitat" to this area of Nebraska relates to non-governmental conservation activities -- purchasing land, giving easements as compensation, managing and restoring habitat -- and the dollar figure for these activities is estimated at "between $3.8 and $6.6 million" (www.fws.gov). Other impacts include: the cost of the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) ($1.8 million, 8% of impact); transportation and public works (4% of impact; about $922,000); agriculture-related land use value issues (1% of impact; up to $258,000); and "section 7 consultations" (less than 1% of impact; cost of government staff engaging in the project) (www.fws.gov).

Issues Pertaining to Endangered Status: Threats & factors contributing to the beetle's potential demise: The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (hereafter referred to as "beetle") is threatened by the ongoing encroachment into its limited habitat by "extensive degradation" for "commercial, residential, transportation, and agricultural development" beginning in the late 1800s, according to the NESFO report. The U.S. Geological Survey maps show that 99% of the remaining population of the struggling beetle can be found within a 1-mile radius of Interstate 80 and the North 27th Street Interchange. This particular area is being developed rapidly and exacerbating the loss of habitat for the beetle is the fact that levees, reservoirs, and the channelization of Salt Creek have resulted in "the degradation and loss of saline wetlands" (NESFO). Moreover, other threats are ongoing: a) the grazing of livestock destroys the beetle's larvae in several ways; b) artificial lights from the sprawling city "may reduce reproduction"; c) accidental spillage of toxic wastes and the introduction of insecticide into the creek harm the beetle; and d) and amateur insect collectors gathering specimens further reduces the beetle's chances of survival.