The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island has been working with their New England Conservation Collaborative partners,in addition to the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game (NHFG) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to restore habitat for the Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaedes melissa samuelis) in the Concord Pine Barrens. In addition to captive breeding of the endangered butterflies, the zoo’s horticulture department is growing wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) for replanting in the New Hampshire habitat.
Threats to Endangered Karner Blue Butterflies in the Northeastern United States
The Karner Blue Butterfly, added to the Endangered Species List in 1992, is dependent on wild lupine as its sole food source. Habitat fragmentation and loss in the northeastern United States now threatens the wild lupine, which flowers in the open areas of natural pine barrens. In New Hampshire most pine barren habitat has been replaced by pine plantations, which do not allow for the natural open grassy areas wild lupine needs to survive.
Karner Blue Butterfly Conservation Relies on Restoration of Pine Barrens
Once found throughout 12 states in Northeastern USA, the Karner blue butterfly is now restricted to seven states. Only two of those states, Wisconsin and Michigan support healthy populations of the endangered butterflies. In the New England, the Concord, New Hampshire population of Karner blue butterfly was extirpated but is now being reintroduced in a remnant pine barren habitat where native wild lupine is also being reintroduced.
The project has been very successful with nearly 500 acres of land either being restored to natural pine barrens or remaining undeveloped as a buffer zone. Prescribed burns have been an important part of the Karner Blue Butterfly conservation work in the Concord Pine Barrens. These controlled burns open up space within the pine woods where the grassy open areas develop and wild lupines can flower.
Thousands of lupine plants and seeds, many cultivated at Roger Williams Park Zoo and other New England Conservation Collaborative member organizations, have been planted in the Concord Pine Barrens. Over 4,000 Karner Blue Butterflies have been released in the restored habitat, many of them from the ongoing captive breeding program, which is part of the zoo's conservation program. In addition to working on the endangered butterflies, the zoo has also been restoring American burying beetles to New England.
The Future of Karner Blue Butterfly Conservation
In New Hampshire, residential and commercial development with the attendant road construction has cut through the natural landscape fragmenting pine barren habitat. While restoration of the Concord Pine Barrens has allowed for the successful reintroduction of the Karner Blue Butterfly, this population is presently isolated. It will be necessary to connect pine barren habitats for these endangered butterflies to thrive in the longer term.
To this end, and to protect and restore other threatened and endangered butterflies, the Butterfly Conservation Initiative, a partnership between the USFWS, the National Wildlife Federation, the Xerces Society and more than 40 US zoos, has been established. In addition to the beauty they add to the landscape, butterflies and other insect species are important plant pollinators, giving their conservation importance on multiple levels.
Dawn M. Smith - A vet nurse, Dawn has worked in wildlife rehabilitation and conservation around the world in addition to her veterinary hospital ...
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