Lord of the Dragonflies

The Hine's emerald dragonfly, named for its brilliant green eyes, is the only species of dragonfly listed as endangered. It flaunts a creamy yellow stripe along its dazzling metallic-green body, and it zips through the air at speeds of up to 35 miles an hour. The creature is now found only in isolated Midwestern wetlands. NRDC filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in early March, arguing that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to list as "critical habitat" vital wetlands located in national forests. The Wildlife Service, in turn, claimed that the U.S. Forest Service is managing the land and that a critical habi­tat designation would damage the Forest Service’s willingness to cooperate with the Wildlife Service. To Andrew Wetzler, who directs NRDC’s Endan­gered Species Project, this sort of decision making is not only nonsensical -- the agencies are required by law to cooperate with each other -- but also potentially damaging. The ruling could set a bad precedent, allowing the gov­ernment to exempt other federal land from being designated criti­cal habitat, undermining the in­tegrity of the law.