Idaho snowflies won’t get federal species protection

Two Idaho snowflies will not be protected under the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said today. Officials said a petition seeking protections for the straight snowfly and the Idaho snowfly does not contain scientific information indicating that the flies are imperiled. The petition was filed last year by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Friends of the Clearwater. Straight and Idaho snowflies, which are stoneflies in the order Plecoptera, are known to occur in Idaho’s Latah County within the Potlatch and Palouse River watersheds. Adults are often found crawling on snow and ice, which is how they came to be called “snowflies.” The Idaho snowfly was once considered to be the same species as the straight snowfly, but is now recognized as a separate species. Both snowflies are primarily associated with clean, cool running waters.