The resort took to email and social media to encourage its patrons and supporters to attend Tuesday’s meeting and make their voices heard. The ski resort is in the largest of the three areas, which also includes a stretch of state Route 156 in Lee Canyon.

The proposed critical habitat is in three separate blocks totaling 5,561 acres at the top of Kyle and Lee canyons and along the road connecting the two, state Route 158, near Fletcher Peak - places thought to harbor the rare butterfly, its host plants and the flowers it feeds on. The exact population is not known, but there could be fewer than 100 left in existence. It was added to the endangered species list in September after conservationists pushed for its protection. The Mount Charleston blue is a distinct subspecies of the wider-ranging Shasta blue butterfly. It’s absolutely fanatical the approach they’re taking.” “They want to restrict human activity because of a butterfly we can barely find and know little about,” Jaget said before Tuesday’s meeting. He thinks it’s ridiculous that some insect most people never see could ruin all that. He said Mount Charleston only has a few trails where mountain bikes are allowed, so the prospect of a whole network of new trails is an exciting one. We just want to make sure that everyone - nature and the resort - have room to grow.”ĭavid Jaget heads up the Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association, which has developed and helps maintain trails in the area. “This is going to supersede any plans for expansion,” Seely said. Jim Seely, marketing director for the ski area 50 miles northwest of the Strip, said all of that is threatened by the current critical habitat designation, which includes most of the resort on property leased from the Forest Service. The resort also wants to increase traffic during the summer with a downhill mountain biking park on a network of trails it hopes to finish by 2016, pending Forest Service approval. Forest Service that would double the size of the operation and add six ski lifts and more snow-making equipment. The ski resort has submitted a 12-year plan to the U.S.

Though the designation isn’t expected to limit public access to the land, it can restrict development by requiring an additional level of review for any project proposed there. Fish &Wildlife Service officials detailed plans to designate more than 5,500 acres as critical butterfly habitat in the Spring Mountains. That was the fear of about 50 resort officials and recreation enthusiasts at a meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday night as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)Įfforts to protect the newly endangered Mount Charleston blue butterfly could spoil plans to expand portions of Las Vegas Ski &Snowboard Resort and open its slopes to mountain bikers during the offseason. Mount Charleston blue butterfly, Plebejus shasta (Courtesy/Corey Kallstrom, U.S.

Mount charleston blue butterfly sketch