Butterflies are the most conspicuous, easily identified and indicative insects in an ecosystem. Habitat quality, disturbance and land management impact these species dramatically, making butterflies ideal indicator species. A base-line survey of butterflies as indicators of habitat quality was conducted in 2007 at the U. S. Army’s Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, a 235,896 acre military training site near Trinidad, CO. The resulting analysis compared presence, abundance, and species diversity of butterflies and skippers across 9 habitats from June to August 2007. More than 25 species of butterfly were collected from 7 families over the course of the summer. Preliminary results show the highest species diversity in cottonwood and four-wing saltbush habitats with the least diversity in the poderosa pine habitat.