A Safe Harbor Agreement is in the works to benefit Hine's emerald dragonflies. Photo by Dr. Paul Burton

A Safe Harbor Agreement to conserve the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana) in DuPage County, Illinois, was developed by the DuPage County Forest Preserve District with the Chicago Field Office for conservation measures at the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve.

Safe Harbor Agreements are voluntary agreements between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and cooperating non-Federal landowners.  They are designed to benefit federally endangered and threatened species by giving landowners assurances that at no future time would the Service impose restrictions on their land as a result of conservation actions they take to benefit a listed species.  These agreements essentially relieve landowners of liability under the Endangered Species Act if conservation practices on their land attract and/or perpetuate federally listed species.

The draft Safe Harbor Agreement would enable the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to attempt to create breeding habitat for the Hine’s emerald dragonfly in currently unsuitable areas of Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in DuPage County.  Under the agreement, the district would restore small streams favored by the Hine’s emerald dragonfly as breeding habitat.  The new habitat and the Hine’s emerald dragonfly population would be monitored to gauge the success of the project and to adapt to achieve the greatest conservation benefit for the species. 

The Hine’s emerald dragonfly measures up to 3 ½ inches in length and has brilliant green eyes.  The larval stage is aquatic, occupying rivulets and seepage areas within wetland systems.  The Hine’s emerald dragonfly occupies marshes and sedge meadows fed by calcareous groundwater seepage and underlain by dolomite bedrock.  Adults also feed along shrub and forest edges near wetland habitat.  The species was listed as endangered in 1995, largely due to loss of suitable habitat.

The draft Safe Harbor agreement is available on the Service’s website at:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/permits/sha/hed/index.html