by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel

The “butterfly metaphor” describes the need for people and organizations to change their ways, thinking differently about the way things have always been. It is fitting in the halls of government, where the status quo is paramount, and pundits joke about the seven words bureaucrats shouldn’t say: “We’ve never done it that way before.”

The butterfly represents the ultimate transformation, with its mysterious metamorphosis from ugly caterpillar, to what Robert Heinlein described as “self-propelled flowers.” Some people are said to be caterpillars, pleased with the status quo. Others are in a cocoon, sheltered and afraid to fly away. When it comes to the Endangered Species Act, federal officials can be both.

The metaphor seems apt, in light of a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to add one of nature’s most beautiful butterflies to the endangered species list. Known as the Silverspot butterfly, its scientific name is Speyeria nokomis nokomis. It only lives at high elevations, from about 5,200 to 8,300 feet, but to be careful the USFWS assumes the butterfly’s elevational range between 5,000 and 8,500 feet — adding thousands of square miles of potential designated habitat.

Still, that should not distress Grand Junction, except for one thing — the posted map of the butterfly’s range includes a gigantic swath from southeast of Santa Fe, north to Meeker and west to Thompson Springs, Utah — including Grand Junction. It covers the Santa Fe, Carson, San Juan, Rio Grande, Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Grand Mesa, White River, and Manti-La Salle National Forests, including thousands of square miles where no Silverspots live.