12/5/2002
1228
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK SUSPENDS GRAZING TO PROTECT RARE BUTTERFLY
The
U.S. National Park Service has agreed to build a wildlife-friendly
cattle exclosure around a unique high meadow complex
on Hunter Mountain within Death Valley National Park
to protect the endemic Hunter Mountain copper butterfly
and its host plant (a rumex species). It will also soon
propose to exclude cattle from additional riparian areas.
The
Hunter Mountain grazing allotment is the last remaining
cattle allotment in Death Valley National Park. The
Center for Biological Diversity is continuing its campaign
to protect the entirety of the Park from livestock impacts.
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