Outline of Quino Recovery Plan - The Xerces Society

G. Recovery Strategy
The survival and recovery of the Quino checkerspot depends on protection and
restoration of habitat patches within the distribution of metapopulations,
augmentation of extant populations, and reintroduction or discovery of
metapopulations in areas not known to be currently occupied. Recovery efforts
would be greatly facilitated, and ongoing threats reduced, by the advent of a
large-scale educational outreach program involving local cooperative
partnerships. Because extant metapopulations are unique, and their dynamics
and distributions have not been studied, adaptive management practices and
monitoring will be key aspects of recovery. Due primarily to the high degree of
threat imposed by nonnative plant species invasion, management of all
populations will be required into the foreseeable future (Foin et al. 1998).
Habitat areas that need protection consist of all areas occupied by the butterflies,
including patches of larval hostplants and sites used by adults during breeding,
oviposition, nectaring, and dispersal. Stable metapopulation structure requires
preservation of habitat patches that may be temporarily unoccupied by larvae so
they can continue to support local populations in the future. By the time habitat
patches are naturally recolonized, larval occupancy of other patches is likely to
have been naturally extirpated (see Metapopulation Structure section above).
The best available information indicates the Quino checkerspot is highly
endangered: it was at such low densities prior to listing that it was thought to
possibly be extinct (62 FR 2315), it currently is only known from approximately
10 percent of its former distribution, it is known to undergo large population
fluctuations related to weather (Murphy and White 1984, see Climate Change
section above), and most current populations are threatened by ongoing
development (see Threats section above). Under current conditions the Quino
checkerspot may go extinct in the foreseeable future. Therefore, further losses of
suitable or restorable habitat patches that are near or within the distribution of
habitat complexes identified in this plan likely will adversely affect the longterm
conservation of the Quino checkerspot (see Distribution and Habitat
Considerations section above and Figure 2).
Any proposed project that might reduce the area of suitable or restorable habitat
should be carefully evaluated, and conservation measures that fully protect
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