Steps to Saving the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle

Before moving to Nebraska, not once had I ever heard about the Salt Creek tiger beetle, Cicindela nevadica lincolniana. Last year in one of my Natural Resources classes, I was asked to write a paragraph explaining the importance of the small beetle.  Not knowing anything at all, I vaguely wrote about how if the species were to go extinct, it would lead to many other damages or threats.  I handed in my assignment, which was mainly given to check attendance, and walked away thinking nothing more of it.

Since then, the Salt Creek tiger beetle has been brought up in conversation during many of my classes, and besides hearing what teachers and other students have said, I still was not understanding the importance of the beetle or what is being done to protect it. I didn’t even know what one looked like for that matter.  Last week for my Principles of Ecology lab, we took a field trip out to Nine Mile Prairie, but stopped along the way to look at the Salt Creek.  I never leave Lincoln really, unless it is to go back home to Minnesota, so it was my first time ever encountering the salt creek.  It didn’t look like much to me at first, but after realizing the fact that it is the home of an endangered species that is only native to Nebraska, made it much more interesting and special.  After class, I then went home and Googled the Salt Creek tiger beetle, realizing that by this time I should know much more about it.  I was surprised by how interested I was in what I found, and felt lame because I had failed to look it up sooner. 

Above is a picture os a Salt Creek tiger beetle

The beetle was officially declared an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2005, and when last counted in 2009 only 194 individuals were recorded. The small (about .5 inches) beetles are known to occupy roughly 1,933 acres of land, declared as critical habitat in Saunders and Landcaster Counties. Critical habitat is defined by the Endangered Species Act as a geographic area containing features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protection.  In 2009, the Nebraska Ecological Services Field Office released a recovery outline for the beetle, going into depth about the special management and protection efforts that need to take place in the beetles’ habitat.  Their initial action plan contains 7 steps, which are:

1.     Listing and critical habitat

·      Listed as an endangered species by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2009.

2.     Protect existing populations

·      Recent declines in population numbers must be stopped.

3.     Species reintroduction

·      There are nine potential reintroduction areas with suitable habitat.

4.     Establish sustainable populations

·      Each population has a minimum of 500 to 1,000 individuals.

5.     Research

·      Includes monitoring populations, researching groundwater, and evaluating restoration practices.

6.     Outreach

·      Initiate efforts to inform the public, particularly landowners.

7.     Land use planning

·      Evaluate potential problems between land development and locations of recovery to determine reintroduction efforts.

For more information on the Salt Creek tiger beetle, visit these websites:

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/invertebrates/saltcreektiger/

http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_93a4473e-4265-11df-9ce8-001cc4c002e0.html