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The first known dragonfly fossil had a wingspan of 29 inches. The Hine’s emerald dragonfly, found in scattered locations throughout the Great Lakes region and Missouri, isn’t anywhere near that size, but it’s every bit as remarkable. Renowned for its aerobatic virtuosity and electrifying, enormous green eyes, the Hine’s emerald dragonfly hovers on the brink of extinction and is one of the most endangered dragonflies in North America today.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1995
CRITICAL HABITAT:
13,221 acres in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin designated in 2007
RECOVERY PLAN: 2001
RANGE: Scattered sites in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri
THREATS: Habitat destruction, urban sprawl, off-road vehicles, agricultural development, road and pipeline construction, logging, and groundwater contamination from pesticides and other contaminants
POPULATION TREND: Population densities of the Hine’s emerald dragonfly are unknown throughout much of the species’ range. What is certain is that only a few scattered breeding populations remain intact.
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SAVING THE HINE'S EMERALD DRAGONFLY
Following years of unnecessary delays, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Hine’s emerald dragonfly as an endangered species in 1995 — making it the only dragonfly on the entire endangered species list. The Service chose not to protect the dragonfly’s habitat, claiming it lacked necessary scientific knowledge about the species.
Failure to provide critical habitat for the Hine’s emerald dragonfly served as a clear example of agency inaction, but was no surprise to the Center. The Service has a lamentable track record in the Great Lakes region, where it has not voluntarily protected habitat for any species in more than a quarter-century. Seventy species listed as threatened or endangered live near the Great Lakes, but less than a handful have designated critical habitat.
In 2004, the Center, leading a coalition of regional environmental groups, filed a lawsuit to stand up for the Hine’s emerald dragonfly. We won a court order forcing the Service, at long last, to designate critical habitat. Still dragging its feet, the agency eventually proposed the habitat designation nearly two years later, but then slashed the total area by more than half when it finalized the designation in 2007. The next year, we and our allies sued the Service over its decision to exclude national forest land in Michigan and Missouri from the dragonfly’s critical habitat.
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Contact: John Buse
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