LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ A public hearing has been set for a proposal to set aside nearly 1,800 acres in Lancaster and Saunders counties for the endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle.

The hearing is set for July 1 in Lincoln.

The half-inch-long Salt Creek tiger beetle is considered one of the rarest insects in the United States. It was listed as endangered in October 2005. It is metallic brown to dark-olive green and lives in rare saline wetlands found in eastern Nebraska.

Loss of saline wetland and stream habitats and changes in hydrology are blamed for the decline of the species.

Surveys done last year on three populations along Little Salt Creek found only 263 beetles.