LINCOLN, Neb. -- A new effort under way to protect the habitat of the endangered Salt Creek Tiger Beetle could ban future development in a section of the saline wetlands near Lincoln.

The tiny beetle is one of the world’s rarest creatures. Less than 300 of them remain and the beetle has been protected as an endangered species since 2005.

Now, researchers want to protect more the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle’s only natural habitat – about 1,800 acres of marshland in northern Lancaster and southern Saunders counties.

“A lot of this land is not really developable,” said Bob Harms of the Fish and Wildlife Service. “It's wetland area.”

But a Fish and Wildlife Service study estimated that protecting the land could cost businesses and the public $20 million over the next 20 years. That could include routing highways and power lines away from the area.

“I think it's a big waste of the public's resources,” said developer and former Lincoln city councilman Joe Hampton. He questions why the government would be more concerned about insects than people.

“There's a good argument for the preservation of wetlands,” he said. “But do we take it too far to the extent that we're going to protect 260 beetles at a cost of $1.3 to $2 million a year?”

Tierney Brosius, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska, said designating the area for protection means more than that. “The biggest misconception is that this is all just about a stupid bug. This is about this entire ecosystem.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to make a decision on the land before the end of the year.