For Immediate Release:
Oct. 30, 2025
Contact:
- Stephen Hernick, Friends of Animals Wildlife Law Program (720) 945-9453, ext. 102 shernick@friendsofanimals.org
- Delaney Rudy, Colorado Director, Western Watersheds Project, 970-648-4241, delaney@westernwatersheds.org
- Joanna Zhang, Endangered Species Advocate, WildEarth Guardians, (573) 529-6027, jzhang@wildearthguardians.org
Environmentalists, Advocates Sue USFWS for its Failure to Protect Vanishing Silverspot Butterflies
DENVER – Friends of Animals, WildEarth Guardians, and Western Watersheds Project have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for failing to protect silverspot butterflies (Speyeria nokomis nokomis) and provide the full protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Friends of Animals attorneys are representing the three organizations in the lawsuit, which they filed in federal court in Colorado. WildEarth Guardians submitted a petition in 2013 to list silverspots, a critically imperiled butterfly subspecies in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, under the ESA. In 2024, despite recognizing their precarious status, FWS listed silverspots as threatened rather than endangered and failed to designate any critical habitat.
“While we’re glad that FWS listed silverspot butterflies under the Endangered Species Act, silverspots need the full protections afforded to endangered species,” said Jennifer Best, director of Friends of Animals’ Wildlife Law Program. “That’s why Friends of Animals filed a lawsuit to challenge FWS’s final rule and to seek increased protection for silverspots. An endangered listing automatically prohibits a wide range of activities, which make it difficult for one to meddle with an at-risk species, while a threatened listing doesn’t necessarily demand the same.”
In the case of silverspots, the current ‘threatened’ listing allows destructive activities such as cattle and sheep grazing and mowing to continue in the fragile meadows these butterflies depend on for habitat. Silverspot butterfly caterpillars eat only bog violets, a rare plant that only grows in wet mountain meadows. These ecosystems are already imperiled by development and declining snowpack due to climate change, and many are heavily grazed by livestock.
“Without designated critical habitat and meaningful protection from the impacts of grazing, mowing, and groundwater alteration from the livestock industry, silverspots will continue to disappear across their range,” said Delaney Rudy, Colorado Director for the Western Watersheds Project. “The federal government has a responsibility to prioritize the recovery of the species, and there are too many loopholes in their listing decision to accomplish that.”
“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s half-measures of protection simply aren’t enough to stop silverspot butterflies from vanishing into extinction,” said Joanna Zhang, endangered species advocate with WildEarth Guardians. “For over a decade, we’ve fought for silverspot butterflies to receive the full Endangered Species Act protections and designated critical habitat they need. Unless FWS acts swiftly, these fragile mountain ecosystems and the silverspots that depend on them will continue to disappear.”
FWS determined that no grazing in silverspot habitat during summer and early fall was “preferred,” yet ranchers are still allowed to graze cattle and sheep in key silverspot habitats during these critical months. Similarly, FWS also determined that mowing no less than eight inches above the ground was “preferred,” yet it allowed mowing down to six inches above ground.
It’s not only unclear how these limitations will be enforced, but it’s also unclear how FWS could determine that prohibiting such activities was “preferred” while still allowing them to occur. “FWS is trying to pay lip service to conserving silverspot butterflies and not overly inconveniencing landowners,” said Stephen Hernick, managing attorney for FoA’s wildlife law program. “That’s not its job. Its job is to conserve silverspots, and we’ll make sure it does.”
Friends of Animals, an international animal protection organization founded in 1957, advocates for the rights of animals, free-living and domestic around the world. www.friendsofanimals.org
Western Watersheds Project (WWP) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy.
WildEarth Guardians is a non-profit organization that works to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.
