A recent federal decision to designate San Bruno Mountain as a critical habitat for the threatened Bay checkerspot butterfly will create an additional level of protection for the county park's habitat conservation plan.
This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held a public hearing to designate 15 areas in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties as critical habitat for the endangered butterfly. The public comment period ends Dec. 15 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service service will make an official determination by March 1, according to spokesperson Patricia Foulk.
Since all developments near natural preserves and parks must receive permits from federal agencies such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife, this addition will ensure that the long-term viability will not be threatened.
"It's really a tool to let federal agencies basically red flag if they're funding or permitting an activity in a critical habitat," Foulk said.
San Bruno Mountain has been protected by an established habitat conservation plan for more than 20 years, the recent designation will make it just a little more difficult for developers to build houses next to the park, according to Victoria Harris, a county environmental consultant.
"It's another layer that triggers federal agency involvement," she said.
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"If a piece of land has butterflies, [a developer] has to go to Fish and Wildlife to get a permit and when issuing they have to consult habitat laws."
Right now, Harris said that San Bruno Mountain is a critical habitat for four types of endangered butterflies the Bay checkerspot, the Callippe silverspot, the Mission blue and the San Bruno elfin. The most predominate species is the Callippe silverspot and Harris said the Bay checkerspot can only be spotted at nearby Edgewood Park.
According to Ron Weaver, a San Mateo County park ranger at San Bruno Mountain, the Mission blue and Callippe silverspot butterflies caused environmentalists to lobby for the first amendment to the endangered species act.
That amendment helped create the mountain's habitat conservation plan -- the first HCP in the country -- in 1982. There are now more than 200 HCP's across the country, according to Weaver.
The HCP requires residents near San Bruno Mountain to pay into a special tax district that helps protect the two butterflies. It has also curbed development along the mountain's slopes.
That protection is already stringent, Weaver said, but the additional requirements do highlight the wildlife at San Bruno Mountain. "What it does is reinforce the posture and the responsibility the county has for San Bruno Mountain and Edgewood Park," he said. "It lets people know that San Bruno Mountain has such great bio-diversity."
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